USA TODAY International Edition
Under unforgiving winter siege, 1 million stuck in dark misery
POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N. J. – Another fierce winter storm brought more snow and ice across the Northeast and Mid- Atlantic on Thursday, and warnings extended as far south as weather- weary Texas.
More than 400,000 customers in Texas were still without power Thursday afternoon after frigid temperatures kicked large shares of the state’s power plants off its grid this week, leaving more than 4 million in the dark and triggering outrage. Across the USA, more than 1 million people had no electricity: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Oregon experienced widespread outages.
President Joe Biden declared states of emergency in Texas and Oklahoma and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide generators and supplies to states affected
by the severe winter weather. “Jill and I are keeping Texas, Oklahoma, and other impacted states in our prayers,” he wrote on Twitter.
As many as 36 people have died this week in the extreme weather. Traffic accidents have claimed the most lives, but some people have died as a result of fire or carbon monoxide poisoning while struggling to find warmth inside their
homes.
While temperatures rise in the middle of the country, “abnormally cold temperatures will hang around through the end of the workweek,” the National Weather Service said.
The heaviest snow was expected in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Mary
land and Pennsylvania, and isolated patches could get up to a foot of accumulation in the Appalachians, the weather service said.
“Significant and disruptive” ice was expected farther south, up to half an inch of accumulation in North Carolina and southern Virginia, forecasters said. “The result will be dangerous travel conditions, numerous power outages and extensive tree damage.”
Back- to- back storms left 15 inches of snow in Little Rock, Arkansas, tying a 1918 record, the weather service said.
Vaccination sites take a hit
In New York City, forecasters anticipated up to 8 inches of snow by Friday and a “light glaze of ice” over the New York and New Jersey region. Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the city could run out of vaccine Thursday because of storm- related delays.
In the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, some COVID- 19 vaccination and testing sites closed as snow caused dangerous conditions on the roads.
Farther north, the storm was likely to drop half a foot of snow from the Hudson Valley to the southern parts of New England, the weather service said.
“This storm and its predecessor a couple of days earlier, accompanied by once- in- a- generation outbreak of frigid air, has left behind an absolute mess in the South Central states and is on the move,” AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
Boil advisory
“My elderly family members have had to live off candles and hot stoves for the last couple days,” said Bertha Rendon, who has been living with her aunt and uncle in East Austin, Texas, this week. “That’s when it really hit me. I mean, I’m young – I’m 41 years old – and I can take this, but they can’t. So many people in my area are going through the same thing.”
The cold weather damaged infrastructure and pipes, and officials warned 7 million people, a quarter of the state’s population, to boil drinking water before use.
In Austin, some hospitals faced low water pressure and no heat. Gov. Greg Abbott urged Texans to turn off their water, if possible, to prevent damage to the water system and pipes.
Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said people let their faucets drip to prevent frozen pipes, and frozen lines led to low water pressure across the state.
Grid manager Electric Reliability Council of Texas said late Wednesday that it had restored power to approximately 8,000 megawatts, or about 1.6 million households, since the morning.
“We are working around the clock to restore power to Texans,” ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said. “We made progress today, but it will not be good enough until every person has their power back.”
ERCOT said it hoped to have enough power restored by Thursday that utilities could rotate outages rather than keeping power off for extended periods of time. Managers declined to say exactly when electricity would be fully restored, saying the main factor in coming days will be the cold weather.
Warmer weather could allow frigid power facilities to roar back to life, restore natural gas production, open roads for skilled workers to make power repairs and cut demand from consumers, ERCOT managers said.
Oregon faces ‘ dangerous’ outages
In the Pacific Northwest, the weather service expected snow in the range of 1 to 2 feet to pile up along the Cascade Range. Mountain ranges in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming could see up to a foot of snow, the weather service said.
Power outages in the Portland, Oregon, area were the worst in 40 years, said Maria Pope, CEO of Portland General Electric. More than 350,000 customers at the peak of the storm lost power, and more than 100,000 in Oregon are still in the dark.
“These are the most dangerous conditions we’ve ever seen in the history of PGE,” said Dale Goodman, director of utility operations.
Boat rescue in Tennessee
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said at least three people were dead in his state. More than 100,000 were without power Thursday, and Bel Edwards said nearly a million Louisianans have to boil their water.
In Tennessee, rescuers saved a dozen people trapped when a dock collapsed under the heavy weight of snow and ice.
The Nashville Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management responded late Wednesday to the scene at the Blue Turtle Bay Marina. There were no injuries, Fire Department spokeswoman Kendra Loney said.