Ice falls at Cowboys Stadium, injures 5

Posted: 02.04.2011 at 3:33 PM

Five people were injured by falling ice at Cowboys Stadium after another blast of winter slammed North Texas on Friday.
/ AP photo

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Five people were injured by falling ice at Cowboys Stadium after another blast of winter slammed North Texas on Friday, a Super Bowl official said.

Arnie Valdez with the Super Bowl safety committee said one person was critically injured and taken to a hospital. He did not immediately have details about the others and could not say why those injured were at the stadium.

"The ice and snow melting off of the Cowboys Stadium roof has caused several sliding snow falls onto the plaza," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. He said most stadium entrances had been closed Friday afternoon.

The National Weather Service had issued a winter storm warning Friday for Arlington, home of the $1.3 billion Cowboys Stadium where the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers will play this weekend for the NFL title.

Forecasters expect a mostly sunny Super Bowl Sunday with highs in the 40s, and organizers said last week that the stadium's retractable roof will be closed.

The latest punch of unusual cold and snow hit a city still struggling to recover from Tuesday's ice storm, part of a massive system that paralyzed a large swath of the country with blizzards, thundersnow and bone-chilling temperatures this week.