After millions of homes and businesses lost power for several days in Texas, nearly half of the state’s residents are now dealing with water disruptions, including boil water advisories, broken pipes, and offline treatment plants.
Officials are warning some power outages could drag on for days and more than 20 million people across the South were under a hard freeze warning overnight.
Here's a look at the latest developments in the state:
- About 13.5 million people are facing water disruptions, broken pipes and failing systems amid the frigid cold and power outages, state officials said. Major cities including Houston, Austin and San Antonio have issued boil water notices to their millions of residents.
- Millions of homes have had their power restored since the peak of the outages and nearly 300 warming centers were opened across the state. As of 8:30 a.m. ET, more than 190,000 customers remained without power in Texas, per PowerOutrages.us. In some locations, residents have been without power for several days.
- Electricity has been restored to the vast majority of Texas residents, with the Department of Energy reporting 90% have had their power returned since the peak of the crisis earlier this week, and just 4% of customers without power.
- At least 38 confirmed deaths and eight suspected others have been reported across nine states, the majority in Texas, as a result of the brutal cold weather and winter storms impacting the US, including in carbon monoxide related incidents.
- Texas Gov. Abbott said Thursday he takes “responsibility for the current status of ERCOT,” calling the power grid operator’s actions unacceptable.
- The Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in Texas, providing relief to those hit hard by the severe cold and power outages.
- Houston's Chief Health Authority said area hospitals are "full" and the system is being strained because so many are trying to use them as warming centers. He said hospitals are suffering from the same power and water issues as the rest of the city.
- The crisis has forced families to take extraordinary measures to find food, water and warmth, including boiling snow for water, burning artwork and child's toys as firewood, laying on top of one another for body heat, and living in cars.
- Abbott announced late Thursday that a major disaster declaration was sought by the state from the federal government to allow residents to apply for federal assistance.
- The weather and power outages are also affecting the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine across the country, and a number of testing sites were forced to temporarily close in Texas. The Texas public health department said the weather is affecting the reporting of new Covid-19 cases and fatalities in the state: "New case counts will be artificially low until reporting resumes."