Houstonians woke up to drifts of snow outside their homes Monday morning, with a brutally cold wind that lowered temperatures to teenagers and without power in most areas.
The entire state of Texas is under a winter storm warning. Forecasters from the National Weather Service have extended the winter storm warning for the Houston area until 6 a.m. Thursday, as cold weather and the threat of more rain, freezing or not, persist.
President Joe Biden approved the Texas emergency disaster proclamation on Sunday. The declaration mandates federal assistance to supplement state and local storm response efforts, according to a White House statement.
Governor Greg Abbott raised the amount of resources available to local officials as the state faced life-threatening power outages in hundreds of thousands of homes.
“Many electric companies have not been able to generate power, whether from coal, natural gas or wind energy,” Abbott said in a statement.
“ERCOT and the PUC are working tirelessly to restore power supplies. The state has also deployed resources to help Texans without power and to help essential workers continue to do their jobs. In the meantime, I encourage all Texans to stay off the roads and conserve energy while state agencies work with private providers to restore power as quickly as possible.
“The Texas Electrical Reliability Council, the agency that oversees the state’s electrical grid, has declared Texas at its highest energy emergency level. This means that it has begun to extend the cuts throughout the state, ”he said.
The declaration is due to lower energy supply and high demand due to extremely low temperatures during the winter storm that hit the state.
To help conserve energy, ERCOT asked residents to close their blinds, unplug unused appliances, wait a few days to do laundry, and wear warmer clothing, among other steps.
Statewide, at least 2.8 million customers had lost power, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates utility data from across the country.
The Texas power grid experienced a system-wide failure as demand increased. Grid administrators declared an emergency after unprecedented power use depleted utilities beyond capacity.
The outages in Texas could last for hours, even days, due to multiple power generation plants being offline, according to officials. An estimated 75% of Texas power generation capacity is affected.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told a news conference: “Don’t expect the power to come back anytime soon. It could be the rest of the day, if not more. “
Turner urged those who still have electricity to save energy by lowering their thermostats so the electrical grid is not overwhelmed. Utilities in the Houston area have cut power in some areas to reduce usage.
“To avoid a total blackout across the state, which could take several days, if not a week or two, to restore, the system has to be very surgical to get people out of the system to reduce demand for that limited supply.” Turner said. saying. “Otherwise it could be considerably worse and this situation could drag on.”
The energy situation, according to the mayor, is of greater importance for the elderly and those who are critical care clients in the network. He urged people to keep an eye on the older people in their lives, especially their relatives and neighbors.
Utility providers said residents without power should not wait for service to be restored before Tuesday at the earliest, leaving families to choose between bad options: huddle with layers of blankets or traverse icy roads to friends’ houses. and relatives with electricity.
Brutally cold wind chill readings of -10 to 10 degrees will be likely through Tuesday morning. Authorities are asking residents to stay off the roads if they can.
Temperatures are currently below freezing throughout Southeast Texas. Most of the winter precipitation is gone, but with freezing temperatures and likely another winter storm on Wednesday, travel could be affected during the work week.
Hundreds of outbound flights were canceled or delayed at major Texas airports, including Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport suspended flights on Monday.
Due to snow and ice on the runways, George Bush Intercontinental Airport closed early Monday morning and will remain closed until at least Tuesday. Metro transport services have also been closed.
Major companies, schools are closed until Tuesday morning, depending on the weather. ExxonMobil, citing the cold and a natural gas shortage, is closing its Baytown refinery. The process, company officials said, could cause burns at the sites.
The Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is warning people that while it is very cold in the area, it is not pond hockey cold. Lakes, ponds, and other bodies of water can begin to freeze. They warned people not to try to walk on them, saying that the ice will not be strong enough to support a person.
Harris County public health officials are rushing to distribute 8,400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine after the facilities storing them ran out of power Monday.
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She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.