Texans face water shortages
POWER RETURNS
HOUSTON • Nearly half the population of Texas was still coping with disrupted water service on Friday in the latest fallout from a crippling winter storm that caused five days of blackouts before the state’s embattled power grid finally sprang back to life.
All power plants in the state were once again functioning, while more than 14.4 million people in 160 of the state’s 254 counties were experiencing disruptions in water service, according to the Texas Commission on environmental Quality.
Ice that downed power lines during the week and other issues have utility workers scrambling to reconnect homes to power, while Texas’ powerful oil and gas sector has looked for ways to renew production.
Hospitals in some hardhit areas ran out of water and transferred patients elsewhere, while millions of people were ordered to boil water to make it safe for drinking. Water-treatment plants were knocked off-line this week, potentially allowing harmful bacteria to proliferate.
Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which encompasses Houston, said she was pleased with progress in the past 24 hours, but warned residents to brace for more hardship. “The grid is still fragile,” she said.
President Joe biden said on Friday he would ask the head of the Federal emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to issue a major disaster declaration to speed up federal aid.
“God willing, it will bring a lot of relief to a lot of Texans,” biden told reporters at the White House.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott urged lawmakers to pass legislation to ensure the energy grid was prepared for cold weather in the future.
“What happened this week to our fellow Texans is absolutely unacceptable and can never be replicated again,” Abbott said.
The governor lashed out at the electric reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a co-operative responsible for 90 per cent of the state’s electricity, which Abbott said had told officials before the storm that the grid was prepared for the cold weather.
The lack of power has cut off water supplies for millions, further strained hospitals’ ability to treat patients amid the pandemic, and isolated vulnerable communities, with frozen roads still impassable in parts of the state.