Texas freeze enters sixth day
Four million in state left without power, effects spill over to Mexico
HOUSTON: Texas’ freeze entered its sixth day, as the largest energyproducing state in the United States grappled with massive refining outages and oil and gas shut-ins that rippled beyond its borders into neighbouring Mexico.
The cold snap, which has killed at least 21 people and knocked out power to more than four million people in Texas, is not expected to let up until this weekend.
The deep freeze has shut in about one-fifth of the nation’s refining capacity and closed oil and natural gas production across the state.
The outages in Texas also affected power generation in Mexico, with exports of natural gas via pipeline dropping off by about 75% over the last week.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Texas metropolis of Houston meanwhile were suffering from both power outages and a loss of water pressure.
“Water pressure is very low,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted. “Please do not run water to keep pipes from bursting.”
Nearly seven million Texans were being advised to boil their water before drinking it or using it for cooking, Toby Baker, who heads the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said on Wednesday, adding that nearly 264,000 people were impacted by non-operational water systems.
David Hernandez, 38, spent the night at a Houston church with other people who have fled their homes. “My car got stranded and I was trying to sleep in the car but it was just too cold,” Hernandez said.
“Liquids in my car were actually turning to ice so it was like sleeping in an ice box.
“I had to come here,” he said. “There’s no choice.”
After days without power in the Houston suburb of Jersey Village, 35-year-old writer and educator Cassie Moore could see her breath in the house.
Her plants were dying.
So Moore and her husband built a tent with living-room curtains in front of their gas fireplace. They slept in shifts Tuesday night -- with their two Australian shepherds Bonzer and Quigley sharing their body heat.
“It’s not the safest option, but it was between that and sitting in the car and freezing,” Moore said.
“You’re really relying on yourself. Every single person I talk to is in survival mode.”
Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Texas, told MSNBC television 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.
“So much of this was avoidable,” O’Rourke added.
“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.”