Texas weather: President Biden declares major disaster

President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in Texas, clearing the way for more federal funds to be spent on relief efforts in the U. S. state.

Power is returning across Texas and temperatures are set to rise, but at least 14 million people still have difficulty accessing clean water.

Mr. Biden has said he will visit Texas as long as his presence is not a burden on relief efforts.

Nearly 60 deaths have been attributed to cold weather across the U. S.

The administration had already declared a state of emergency for Texas, along with Oklahoma and Louisiana.

In a statement on Texas released by the White House, President Biden said he had ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe winter storms.

“Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low- cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programmes to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster,” the statement said.

Mr. Biden has been in touch with the mayors of some of Texas’ biggest cities, such as Houston, Austin and Dallas, to ensure they have access to government resources, an administration official said.

Several other southern states hit by snow and ice storms this week have also reported water service outages.

Winter weather also cut off water in the city of Jackson, Mississippi - home to around 150,000 people - as well as the largest county in T ennessee that includes the city of Memphis, with more than 651,000 residents.

City officials in Jackson say water treatment plants are now running again, but 43,000 households still ha ve no or low water pressure, WLBT TV reports.

Across the U. S. South, a region unaccustomed to such frigid temperatures, people whose pipes have frozen have taken to boiling snow to make water.

The south- western state’s energy grid was overwhelmed by a surge in demand for heat as temperatures plummeted to 30- year lows, hitting 0F (18C) earlier this week.

Nearly 80,000 homes were still without electricity on Saturday morning. Earlier this week, amid freezing temperatures as many as 3.3 million homes and businesses were without power.