‘Disasters within the disaster’

HOUSTON: Texas officials warned of ‘‘disasters within the disaster’’ of historic cold weather that left millions without heat for a third day yesterday, telling residents to prepare for energy to not return until the weekend.

Residents in more than 100 counties in Texas have been told to boil their drinking water as treatment plants continue to suffer from energy blackouts, officials said.

More than 12 million people in the state — the country’s second largest with a population of roughly 29 million — have either have no drinking water on tap in their homes or have drinking water available only intermittently.

Energy remained out for 2.7 million households, officials said. With freezing temperatures expected through the weekend, getting the lights back on will be a slow process, as the state has lost 40% of its generating capacity.

Hospitals in Houston, the state’s largest city, and elsewhere in Texas have reported they have no water.

Nearly two dozens deaths have been attributed to the cold snap. Officials say they suspect many more people have died but their bodies have not been discovered yet.

Yesterday, officials told residents in the most populous parts of the state to brace for another round of freezing rain and snow in the next 24 hours. The cold forced some residents to choose between staying in dark and cold homes, some with no water, or face possible Covid19 exposure at relief centres.

‘‘This is, in many ways, disasters within the disaster,’’ Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which encompasses Houston, said.

‘‘The cascading effects are not going to go away.’’

Governor Greg Abbott told a news conference he expected a nuclear plant in south Texas to come back online overnight, which along with coalfired plants returning to operation should provide enough power for 400,000 homes.

Abbott has demanded an investigation into the management of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a cooperative responsible for 90% of the state’s electricity.

Critics say ERCOT did not heed federal warnings after a similar coldweather failure in 2011.

Laura Nowell, a 45yearold mother of four in Waco, said her family had been without electricity since Tuesday and had tried to keep warm by bundling up and sitting in their car for short stints.

‘‘We’ve never had this much cold. There is ice everywhere,’’ Nowell said, adding she was frustrated by the lack of communication about blackouts.

‘‘Tell me what’s going on. It’s silence.’’

❛ We’ve never had this much cold. There is ice everywhere