The crisis in Texas is expanding after a cold winter storm paralyzed infrastructures in the state. Although the majority of electricity has been restored, more than 13 million people (almost half the state’s population) do not currently have access to clean, running water.
In many homes, the faucet is dry. Finding bottled water is almost impossible. Some have resorted to boiling snow. Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States, opened 11 locations Thursday to help give away water.
David J. Phillip / AP
When the pipes exploded at the home of Texas Rep. Shawn Thierry, his world exploded. She and her eight-year-old daughter are in a hotel, but will not be able to live there for long.
“I mean this is a nightmare, this is everyone’s nightmare,” Thierry told CBS News. “Your home is your residence, it’s where you go to seek your peace and work and now I’m ripped off.”
Thierry is among millions in a new phase of misery. As the lights come on again, the horrors of the storm are revealed.
Water is everywhere, or nowhere, as many treatment plants went offline and millions received orders for boiling water. There was a line to enter a plumbing supply store. Even the food has been hard to come by as some grocery store shelves were bare.
Along the east coast, snow and ice are causing serious car accidents and tearing down power lines, sinking tens of thousands into the dark. President Biden declared a state of emergency in Oklahoma, where residents there recorded the longest sub-zero temperature streak on record.
This winter storm even created a political one, when Texas Senator Ted Cruz was seen on a flight to Cancun while its components were suffering from the cold. He returned to Houston under a police escort after his photos and videos were made public. CBS News learned it was originally scheduled to return Saturday.
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