Snowy and icy roads have prompted highway closures in at least five states as the powerful blizzard continues producing problems across the northern Plains.

Travel conditions in the northern Plains will drastically improve Wednesday after a deadly storm that caused blizzard conditions and freezing rain, resulting in disruptions along major interstates in the central U.S.

The storm claimed a life in Kansas when an elderly woman died in a crash along a snowy state highway on Christmas evening.

The driver of a pickup truck heading west on Kansas Highway 156 lost control on the icy road and slid into oncoming traffic, colliding head-on with an eastbound SUV near Larned, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. An 86-year-old woman riding in the SUV was pronounced dead at the scene, troopers said. Three others were hospitalized. 

Ice in Merrick County, Nebraska, caused another driver to lose control and the car to roll over several times, officials said. A child was ejected from the car and was rushed to a trauma center. Five others in the car were rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the sheriff.

The Nebraska DOT closed Interstate 80 and Highway 30 from the Wyoming line to Lexington, Nebraska into Wednesday morning, because snow and high winds "continue to make travel impossible." The state saw 28 crashes and almost 150 weather-related incidents on Christmas alone.