HOUSTON, Feb 18, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Millions of people were still without
power on Wednesday in Texas, the oil and gas capital of the United States,
with some facing water shortages as an unusual winter storm pummeled the
southeastern part of country.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a winter storm warning for a
swathe of the country ranging from east Texas to the East Coast state of
Maryland.
The NWS said the storm would bring ice, sleet and heavy snow to parts of
Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as it tracks to the northeast,
causing power outages, tree damage and making driving hazardous.
Even though the Arctic air mass was beginning to lose its grip on an area
of the country not used to such extreme cold, the frigid temperatures would
continue, the NWS said.
“The Arctic air will also continue over the Plains and Mississippi Valley
with temperatures of 25 to 40 degrees below average,” the NWS reported
Wednesday afternoon.
More than 30 storm-related deaths have been reported by media in the
United States since the cold weather arrived last week, many in traffic
accidents.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Texas metropolis of Houston are
suffering from both power outages and a loss of water pressure.
“Water pressure is very low,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted.
“Please do not run water to keep pipes from bursting.”
Several Texas cities advised residents to boil their water before drinking
it or using it for cooking.
David Hernandez, 38, spent the night at a Houston church with other people
who have fled their homes.
“My car got stranded and I was trying to sleep in the car but it was just
too cold,” Hernandez said. “Liquids in my car were actually turning to ice so
it was like sleeping in an ice box.
“I had to come here,” he said. “There’s no choice.”
Derrick Maxwell came to the church with his partner Ariel Edward, their
baby and other relatives. “It was too cold to be home with no food, no
water,” Maxwell said. “We couldn’t cook so that’s why we came up here.”
Power companies in Texas have implemented rolling blackouts to avoid grids
being overloaded as residents crank up the heat.
According to PowerOutage.US, about 2.4 million customers were still
without power by Wednesday evening in Texas, the only one of the US’s 48
continental states to have its own independent power grid.
– ‘Nearly a failed state’ –
Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Texas, told
MSNBC television the situation in the Lone Star State was “worse than you are
hearing.”
“Folks have gone days now without electricity. They’re suffering,” he
said.
“So much of this was avoidable,” O’Rourke added.
“The energy capital of North America cannot provide the energy needed to
warm and power people’s homes in this great state. We are nearing a failed
state in Texas.”
Austin Energy, the local power company in the capital city of 950,000,
said tens of thousands of area customers were without electricity, but that
they were able to start restoring power in some spots.
“However, this power will NOT stay on indefinitely due to anticipated grid
conditions continuing,” the company’s Twitter account said Wednesday
afternoon, warning of future rotating outages.
The energy company published the locations of “warming centers” set up in
local schools.
While electricity companies struggle to get power restored, Austin-
Bergstrom International Airport resumed flights on Wednesday after a two-day
hiatus caused by heavy snowfall.
Jeff Zients, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said the
cold weather was impacting delivery and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
“There’s certain parts of the country, Texas being one of them, where
vaccination sites are understandably closed,” Zients said.
“What we’re encouraging governors and other partners to do is to extend
hours once they’re able to reopen.”
Many weather-related deaths so far have resulted from traffic accidents,
but Houston police said a woman and a girl died from carbon monoxide
poisoning after sitting in a car in a garage with the engine running to keep
warm. And emergency medical authorities around the state said dozens of
others have been treated for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, while 77
were treated for hypothermia in northern Texas Tuesday.
A man in Louisiana died when he hit his head after slipping on ice, and a
10-year-old Tennessee boy perished after he and his six-year-old sister fell
through the ice into a pond Sunday.
A dozen animals — including one 58-year-old female chimpanzee — died
during the freeze at rescue sanctuary Primarily Primates near San Antonio,
the organization said on its website Wednesday.
The winter storm spawned at least four tornadoes, according to Atlanta-
based weather.com, including one in North Carolina on Monday that killed at
least three people and injured 10.
Across the southern border, Mexican officials said six people died after
temperatures plunged.