Nearly 3 million homes and businesses still had no electricity in Texas on Wednesday morning after this week’s severe winter storm, even when a second was threatening a wide U.S. strip and after some of the temperatures colder than the decades came to the Lone Star State, the problem was emerging: water restrictions due to pipe bursts and lack of electricity at treatment plants.
Galveston, Texas, was under water restrictions from stage 5 early Wednesday after breaking major water lines due to lack of power, KPRC-TV reported. Fort Worth residents were forced to boil their own water after the closure of a water treatment plant. Abilene also had water problems.
And Sugar Land, Texas, tweeted for water conservation, saying, “We need your help! Sugar Land’s water systems feature emergency pressure levels in several areas. Minimize water consumption.” ‘water to safety and health needs’.
The National Weather Service has tweeted updates overnight:
The weather service predicts “another major winter storm for the south-central plains to the mid-Atlantic through Friday,” with snowfall of more than 4 inches from Oklahoma to the mid-Atlantic and a potential of 8 inches or more in Pennsylvania. mention a “significant icy rain” also likely from Texas to Tennessee and North Carolina to Virginia.
The first storm threw snow and ice and brought down power in dozens of states and blamed at least 17 deaths, including a grandmother and three children who died in a house fire trying to stay warm in Sugar Land.
Ashley Landis / AP
In Houston, two others died from carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to stay warm inside their car. There was outrage after some skyscrapers continued to light up, while downtown Dallas darkened Monday night.
Texas is the only continental US state to have its own power grid. It is not regulated by the federal government and residents are angry that it will fail.
“I understand people are angry that this has happened. … We’re turning on the power again,” said CEO Bill Magness of ERCOT, the Texas power supply company.
National Guard troops and thousands of state soldiers checked families struggling to stay warm. In parts of Texas and Oklahoma, temperatures had not been so low for 100 years, causing the pipes to freeze and explode.
The storm also forced COVID-19[feminine els llocs de vacunació es tanquen i ha provocat retards en la transmissió de noves dosis a tot el país. El governador de Texas, Greg Abbott, va anomenar la tempesta “la versió hivernal de l’huracà Harvey”. Els funcionaris estatals van demanar a la gent que conservés el poder, si el tenen.
A Oklahoma City, la temperatura va baixar a menys 14 dimarts al matí, la temperatura més freda que hi ha hagut des de 1899. I a Galveston, els forenses van demanar un camió refrigerat després d’haver informat de diverses morts relacionades amb el fred.
La mateixa tempesta va crear un potent tornado a una regió costanera de Carolina del Nord que va destruir les cases i va matar tres persones i ferir-ne deu més. Carolina del Nord va ser un dels 15 estats maltractats pel mateix sistema de tempestes massives. Els tornados també van colpejar Geòrgia i Florida.
– Brian Dakss i Jessi Mitchell van contribuir a aquest informe.