Anger Mounts: Texas Power Blackouts, Icy Cold Maintains Grip

By Staff, Agencies 

Anger over Texas’s power grid failing in the face of a record winter freeze is mounting, as millions of residents remained shivering, with no assurances that their electricity and heat – out for 36 hours or longer in many homes – would return.

“I know people are angry and frustrated,” said Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, who woke up to more than 1 million people still without power in his city on Wednesday. “So am I.”

Between 2 and 3 million customers in Texas still had no power, nearly two full days after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge in demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state’s power grid and causing widespread blackouts. Meanwhile, people’s water pipes are bursting and hours long lines have been wrapping around grocery stores as people search for food.

Around seven million people – a quarter of Texas’s population – have been told to boil their water, but in many cases power outages are making that difficult. 

Winter storms have forced water service providers to scramble to manage flows. Authorities in Kyle, south of the capital, Austin, asked residents Wednesday to suspend water usage until further notice because of a shortage.

“Water should only be used to sustain life at this point,” the city of 45,000 said in an advisory. “We are close to running out of water supply in Kyle.”

In Memphis, Tennessee, the power and water company asked residents to reduce their water usage through Friday. Officials also asked customers to save water by letting taps drip, instead of streaming water, to prevent pipes from freezing over.

At least 20 people have died across the country, some while struggling to find warmth inside their homes. In the Houston area, one family died from carbon monoxide poisoning from car exhaust in their garage; another perished after flames spread from their fireplace.

More than 100 million people live in areas covered on Wednesday by some type of winter weather warning, watch or advisory, as yet another winter storm hits Texas and parts of the southern plains, the National Weather Service said.

The weather has also threatened to impede the nation’s Covid-19 vaccination effort, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying on Wednesday that states will face serious delays in receiving doses due to dangerous road conditions and power outages.