Winter storm clears Texas but millions remain without Power

The winter storm that paralyzed Texas’ power grid is moving away from the region, but freezing temperatures remain, hampering the US state’s attempts to fully restore power to its residents.

With 2.7 million Texas homes still without heating Thursday morning, authorities warned of the dangers of a domino effect on infrastructure.

The lack of power cut off water supplies for millions of people, further strained the ability of hospitals to treat patients amid a pandemic and left vulnerable communities isolated with frozen roads still impassable in some parts of the state.

“This is, in many ways, a catastrophe within a catastrophe,” warned Lina Hidalgo, the elected chief executive of Harris County, which encompasses Houston. “Cascading effects are not going to go away.”

Residents of more than 100 Texas counties were ordered to boil their water to make it drinkable while treatment plants continue to be affected by power outages, according to authorities.

More than 12 million people in the state – the second largest in the country with a population of about 29 million – do not have clean drinking water in their homes or have clean water available only intermittently.

With the freezing temperatures expected through the weekend, turning the lights back on will be a slow process as Texas has lost 40% of its generation capacity, with wells, natural gas pipelines and frozen wind turbines.

Hospitals in Houston, the largest city in the state, and elsewhere in Texas have reported running out of water. Around twenty deaths have been attributed to the cold wave, but authorities suspect that many more people have died without their bodies being found.