Biden declares disaster as South starts cleanup
AUSTIN, Texas – Warmer weather spread across the southern United States on Saturday, bringing some relief to a winter-weary region that faces a challenging clean-up and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages.
In hard-hit Texas, where millions were warned to boil tap water before drinking it, the warm-up was expected to last for several days. By Saturday afternoon, the sun had come out in Dallas and temperatures were nearing the 50s.
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Texas on Friday, directing federal agencies to help in the recovery. He also has approved states of emergency for Louisiana and Oklahoma. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott extended his thanks to Biden for a “partial” approval of his request; Biden approved public assistance for all 254 counties in the state, but provided individual assistance for only 77.
Abbott met Saturday with legislators to discuss energy prices, Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said. Some Texans could be facing huge spikes in electric bills after wholesale energy prices skyrocketed.
The fallout included busted water pipes and shortages of clean drinking water, the closure of the Memphis airport and hospitals struggling to maintain sanitary conditions.
More than 70 deaths have been blamed on the weather, including that of a man at an Abilene, Texas, health care facility where the lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible. Many people who perished were struggling to get warm. A Tennessee farmer died trying to save two calves that apparently wandered onto a frozen pond.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, tweeted Saturday that she helped raise more than $3 million toward relief. She was soliciting help for a Houston food bank, one of 12 Texas organizations she said would benefit from the donations.
The storms left more than 300,000 still without power across the country on Saturday, many of them in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
More than 50,000 Oregon electricity customers were also among those without power, more than a week after an ice storm ravaged the electrical grid.
In West Virginia, Appalachian Power in West Virginia was working on a list of about 1,500 places that needed repair, as about 44,000 customers in the state remained without electricity after experiencing ice storms on Feb. 11 and Feb. 15.
About 260,000 homes and businesses in the Tennessee county that includes Memphis were told to boil water because of water main ruptures and pumping station problems.
More than 192,000 Louisiana residents – some still struggling to recover from last August’s Hurricane Laura – had no water service Friday, according to the state health department. Tens of thousands more remained under boilwater advisories.
Bulk and bottled water deliveries were planned for the hardest-hit areas with a focus on hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis centers, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said, adding that he was hopeful that warmer weather expected during the weekend would speed up repairs.
Central Arkansas Water in the Little Rock area asked customers to conserve water to help protect its system as the ground began to warm and pipes thawed. The city of Hot Springs warned Thursday night that its water supply was “critically low.”
In Jackson, Mississippi, most of the city of about 161,000 had no running water. Crews pumped water to refill city tanks but faced a shortage of chemicals for treatment because icy roads made it difficult for distributors to deliver them, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said.
The city was providing water for flushing toilets and drinking, but residents had to pick it up, leaving elderly people and those living on icy roads vulnerable.
Lisa Thomas said her driveway on a hill in Jackson was a sheet of ice. Her husband, who is on a defibrillator and heart monitor, has only enough heart medication to get him through Sunday because she hasn’t been able to go to the pharmacy.
“People are in dire need here,” Thomas said.
Paul Lee Davis got to the front of the line at a water station set up by city officials only to have the water run out. He was still waiting for it to be replenished 31⁄2 hours after arriving.
“We need water, the stores all are out. I don’t see what choice we have,” Davis said.