Texas still sees record snowfall days into storm

DEL RIO, Texas —As some parts of Texas began to slowly warm up from this week’s winter weather, other areas dealt with another round of snowfall on Thursday.

Del Rio, located along the U.S.-Mexico border in the southwestern part of the state, had received nearly 10 inches (25.4 cm) of snow on Thursday, surpassing the city’s record for snowfall in one day, according to the National Weather Service. With snow still falling, that number was expected to grow.

While power was being restored to many parts of Texas, officials in Del Rio asked residents to conserve electricity or risk having the local system lose power.

About 150 miles (241 km) east of Del Rio, residents in San Antonio also dealt with snowfall and frigid temperatures. Forecasters called for up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) of snow in the city.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, in a Facebook post, asked residents to stay home as local roadways were becoming treacherous due to the snowfall.

Meanwhile, power was restored to more homes and businesses in Texas on Thursday. But the crisis was far from over, with many people still in need of safe drinking water.

Fewer than a halfmillion homes remained without electricity, although utility officials said limited rolling blackouts could still occur.

DALLAS — The head of the Texas power grid operator says the agency removed the names of its board members from the website after they received threats during power outages that affected millions of Texans stuck in a brutal winter storm.

“Threats were being made to board members,” Bill Magness, president and CEO of the Electric Reliability

Council of Texas, said Thursday. “We were very concerned about both employee and board member safety because of the things we have been receiving the past few days.”

Magness said the agency will put the directors’ contact information back on the website in the next few days because it is public information. ERCOT has caught the wrath of Texans stuck in dark, freezing homes after the agency ordered utilities to cut back service when power demand outstripped supply.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Southwest Power Pool says it’s no longer under an emergency alert for the utilities it covers in 14 states.

The 14 states in the central United States have seen intermittent, rolling blackouts this week as utilities face surging demand for energy during frigid, wintry weather. The states stretch from the Texas Panhandle to the Dakotas, and it does not include the majority of Texas.

Southwest Power Pool, a group of utilities covering 14 states from the Dakotas to the Texas Panhandle, says customers should still conserve energy until at least 10 p.m. Saturday but that rolling blackouts are not needed under current conditions.

JACKSON, Miss. — Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said Thursday afternoon that at least 19,000 residents are without power in the city. Most outages are a result of freezing limbs falling on power lines. He said the outages are not confined to one area, but sprinkled throughout the city.

Additionally, most Jackson water system customers are currently without water.

“We are dealing with an extreme challenge with getting more water through our distribution system,” Lumumba said during a livestreamed press conference.

The mayor said as of now, city officials have no timeline on when water will be restored.

“This is one of the unfortunate facts that I have to deliver,” he said. “But I owe you honesty and I owe you truth so we can manage how we prepare.”

DETROIT — Crews are unlikely to safely rescue a man who fell through ice on the Detroit River, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.

The man was with a couple of other people when he walked out onto the ice just off Belle Isle about 5 p.m. Wednesday and began “jumping up and down,” Lt. Jeremiah Schiessel said. It was “not likely” that the search would end in a rescue, he said.

“It’s not looking like this will have a good outcome,” he said. Crews were unable to get to the spot where the man was last seen because the ice was too thin, Schiessel said.

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina vaccine providers have yet to receive tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines the federal government was set to deliver this week, state health officials announced Thursday morning.

The Department of Health and Human Services is now asking clinics to plan to postpone appointments because of the delays fueled by severe winter weather.

None of the more than 163,000 first and second doses of the Moderna vaccine scheduled to arrive this week have been delivered by President Joe Biden’s administration, the state health department said. The state also noted that only a limited number of the nearly 127,000 expected Pfizer vaccines have been shipped.

North Carolina health officials said they are working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce the consequences of the delay.

MAGAZINE, Ark. — An Arkansas man has died after falling into a frozen pond while trying to rescue a calf from the water.

The Logan County Sheriff’s Office says 69-year-old Jessie Roberts was found dead Wednesday after falling into a frozen pond in Magazine, about 90 miles northwest of Little Rock.

The Logan County Sheriff’s Office says Roberts was trying to free a calf from the pond when he fell into the water. Authorities say a friend reported Roberts missing and authorities found Roberts and the calf in the frozen pond on Wednesday.

ASHLAND, Ky. — A Kentucky woman found dead Wednesday night likely died of hypothermia after going without power and heat for two days, a coroner said.

The 77-year-old Boyd County woman’s body was found in an apartment complex by maintenance workers who were checking on her, Boyd County Coroner Mark Hammond told news outlets.

There were still about 70,000 power outages Thursday morning in eastern Kentucky, down from around 150,000 outages after an ice storm hit the area Monday. With temperatures dipping into the teens, Hammond urged those without power to go to a warming station or an overnight shelter.

Meanwhile, nearby West Virginia was grappling with nearly 67,000 power outages.

HOUSTON —- The winter storm had various hospitals in the Houston area on Thursday working through problems due to having no water or low water pressure at their facilities, forcing the cancellation of some surgeries

At Houston Methodist, two of its community hospitals were working without running water but still taking care of patients, said spokeswoman Gale Smith.

Low water pressure is resulting in the canceling of most nonurgent surgeries and procedures for Thursday and possibly Friday and pipes were bursting across Methodist’s hospitals but being repaired as they happened, Smith said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Sylvester Turner said he expects that residents in the nation’s fourth-largest city will have to continue boiling their tap water before drinking it until Sunday or Monday because of damaged infrastructure and frozen pipes from this week’s winter storm.

Turner said Thursday the city’s water system has to be properly pressurized and stabilized and then water samples have to be lab tested before it can be determined it is safe to drink.

To help residents in need of drinking water until the city’s system is deemed safe, officials planned to start distributing bottled water to residents at locations throughout the city starting Thursday afternoon.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The White House announced Thursday that President Joe Biden has approved Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s request for a disaster declaration in response to a winter storm.

Biden on Wednesday approved the request made by Stitt after the storm dumped snow and ice on the state and brought days of subfreezing temperatures and power outages, according to the White House statement.

Biden’s approval allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and it allows for federal funding to reimburse cities, counties and tribes for the costs of emergency measures responding to the storm, including providing shelter for displaced residents.

NEW YORK -- Snow is falling in the northeastern United States, with up to 8 inches expected in the New York and New Jersey through Friday. The winter storm also is bringing ice and rain in some areas, prompting authorities to shutter at least three of New Jersey’s coronavirus vaccination sites.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said the so-called mega-sites in Burlington, Middlesex and Morris counties will reschedule appointments for the coming days. Murphy also ordered state government offices to close except for essential workers. He’s restricting commercial vehicles on highways and asking people to stay home.

New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Diane GutierrezScaccetti recommends watching a good movie. She says “‘Frozen’ is always a good choice.”

weight of the ice and snow on the roof of the dock caused the collapse.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. John Bel Edwards wrote President Joe Biden on requesting a presidential emergency declaration for Louisiana, citing three deaths and thousands without electricity and water in the severe cold.

Edwards said the “extreme winter weather, including record low temperatures, snow, sleet and freezing rain, has been destructive for many areas of Louisiana, most notably through continued power and water outages across the state.”

The Democrat said federal assistance would be particularly welcome in communities still recovering from last year’s hurricanes. He said nearly a million Louisianans are having to boil their water, more than 48,000 Louisianans lack water altogether, and thousands remain without power.