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Power was restored to some Texas homes and businesses on Thursday following a deadly winter storm that is now heading east and has killed at least three dozen people. But many people still do not have safe drinking water, and nearly half a million homes are still without electricity.
The storms also left more than 320,000 homes and businesses without power in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. About 70,000 power outages persisted after an ice storm in eastern Kentucky, while nearly 67,000 were without power in West Virginia.
Snow and ice moved to the Appalachians, northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, and later the northeast. Back-to-back storms left 15 inches of snow in Little Rock, Arkansas.
More than three dozen people have died trying to warm up. A family in the Houston area has died of carbon monoxide as their car idled in their garage. A woman and her three grandchildren were killed in a fire that authorities said could have been caused by a fireplace they were using.
BIG WINTER STORM SLAMS IN EASTERN US AS POWER OUTAGES PERSIST IN TEXAS, SOUTHERN STATES
As of noon Thursday, just under 500,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity, compared to about 3 million on Wednesday. The state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), said the remaining blackouts were largely weather-related, rather than the forced blackouts that began Monday to stabilize the power grid. .
“We will continue to work around the clock until every client is powered back on,” said Dan Woodfin, senior director of system operations at ERCOT.
Woodfin warned that limited power outages could return if demand for electricity increases as people recover electricity and heat.
The weather conditions put the drinking water networks at risk. Authorities have ordered 7 million people to boil tap water before drinking it, following record temperatures that damaged infrastructure and pipes.
FRIGID WEATHER SCRAPPING MORE SPORTS EVENTS IN TEXAS, OKLAHOMA
The water pressure dropped after the pipes froze and many people let the faucets drip to prevent the pipes from freezing. Gov. Greg Abbott urged residents to shut off water to their homes, if possible, to avoid more broken pipes and to keep pressure on municipal systems. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he expects residents to boil tap water before drinking it until Sunday or Monday.
Two of Houston’s Methodist community hospitals had no running water but were still treating patients, most non-emergency surgeries and procedures canceled Thursday and possibly Friday, and burst pipes were fixed as they went along, spokeswoman Gale Smith said.
Emergency rooms were crowded “because patients couldn’t meet their medical needs at home without electricity,” Smith said.
The main campus of the Texas Children’s Hospital at Texas Medical Center and another site had low water pressure, but the system was adequately staffed and patients had sufficient water and “were safe and comfortable.” , said spokeswoman Jenn Jacome.
FEMA has sent generators to support water treatment plants, hospitals and nursing homes in Texas, along with thousands of blankets and ready meals, officials said. The Texas Restaurant Association also said it coordinates food donations to hospitals.
Weather conditions also disrupted water supply systems in several southern cities, including New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana, where fire trucks delivered water to hospitals and bottled water for patients and staff.
Electricity was cut to a facility in New Orleans that pumps potable water from the Mississippi River. A spokeswoman for the Sewerage and Water Authority said on-site generators were being used until power was restored.
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Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt pleaded with residents to limit water use, and Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said most customers were without water, with no timeline for Restoration. At least 19,000 residents were without electricity.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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