INDIANAPOLIS | A winter storm pelted central Indiana with freezing rain and ice Saturday night, cutting power to more than 11,000 people.

Duke Energy reported some 11,433 customers were without power at 10 p.m., including more than 5,000 in Clinton and Howard counties in the Kokomo area north of Indianapolis, according to information posted on the utility's Web site. Another 2,700 were without electricity in Tippecanoe County in the Lafayette area.

More than 23,000 customers were without power at the peak of the outages.

Interstates and major highways in central Indiana were slick with numerous slideoffs and accidents reported, said Indiana State Police Det. Wayne Billings.

"Take your time, slow down you'll be all right," he said.

Warming temperatures had changed the snow and freezing rain over to rain in most areas by late Saturday night, said National Weather Service meteorologist Logan Johnson, and warmer air was on the way up from the south. The temperature at Evansville was 47 degrees about 10:30, he said.

"We get that warm air up here it's gonna melt that ice pretty quick," he said.

The weather service issued an ice warning for counties from Randolph in the east-central part of the state to those west of Lafayette. The warning was in effect from 7 p.m. Saturday through the overnight hours into Sunday. Rain was expected for much of areas south of Indianapolis.

Indianapolis International Airport's Web page reported more than 25 flights scheduled for arrival Saturday night had been canceled and several had been delayed, though it wasn't clear if the delays were weather-related.

"Passengers should check with their airline before coming to the airport," said Indianapolis International Airport spokeswoman Patzetta Trice.

"We don't anticipate any airport-specific reasons why any airlines can't get in and out from the airport from an operations perspective," she said. "The runways are clear. The taxiways are clear."

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CLOSINGS: http://www.nwi.com/closings

WEATHER: http://www.nwi.com/weather