Dark time in Texas as big freeze takes a toll

HOUSTON: Millions of people were still without power on Wednesday in Texas, the oil and gas capital of the US, with some facing water shortages as an unusual winter storm pummeled the southeastern part of the country.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for a section 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.

US President Joe Biden was forced to push a visit to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing site in Kalamazoo, Michigan, back to Friday due to the inclement weather.

More than 30 storm-related deaths have been reported in the US 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.

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.

Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Texas, said 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.

“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 customers were without electricity, but that they were able to gradually start restoring power in some spots.

The company said, however, future rotating outages would continue.

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 had died after temperatures plunged.