Authorities called for an investigation into the state’s power grid, which left millions of people without power during a freezing winter storm.
Texans are battling a deadly winter storm as millions of people face freezing temperatures without electricity – and no estimate of when they will be able to get power and heat back.
At least 10 people died as icy temperatures reached the state over the long weekend. On Tuesday, local authorities issued dire warnings that blackouts are likely to continue.
“Whether you have energy or not now, there is a possibility of power outages even after today,” Harris County, Lina Hidalgo, told a news conference on Tuesday. “I know that things are bleak and it will be a long week.”
More than 3 million households in the state were without power on Tuesday night, according to PowerOutage.us, which collects information about outages. Along with freezing temperatures, there was an increase in so-called carbon monoxide poisoning, as people started to use barbecues, generators and even indoor cars as heat sources.
In Harris County, Hidalgo said, authorities received at least 300 calls for carbon monoxide poisoning, including one about an 8-year-old girl and her mother, who passed out and died while talking on the phone.
“We are losing our family members to carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen during the news conference.
Heat loss has also resulted in frozen water pipes and contamination in some jurisdictions, prompting authorities in the Rio Grande Valley and Fort Worth to alert residents to boil water before use.
At least 10 deaths in the state are suspected to be related to the cold.
In Sugar Land, a grandmother and three children were found dead on Tuesday after a house fire. The investigators told KHOU that the cause of the fire was being investigated, but the family was using the fireplace during power outages to try to keep warm.
In Houston, said the police, a man whose body was found It is believed that in a central street bed he died from exposure to the cold. Another 60-year-old man was found dead in a van possibly exposure.
Other man was killed on Monday after being hit by a car on Interstate 10; he had just got out of the vehicle after an accident on the icy roads.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office also told KSAT that the death of a 78-year-old man, whose body was found in his home by his wife on Monday, may have been due to the extreme cold.
The number of fatalities related to the storm and the cold may continue to increase.
In Galveston County, the coroner’s office had requested a refrigerated truck on Tuesday to deal with a wave of deaths as the county prepares for even colder rains, according to ABC 13.
It was unclear whether this was directly related to the storm, but Galveston County Judge Mark Henry told the local news station that the coroner’s office needed to suddenly increase its capacity to contain an additional 20 to 50 bodies.
The county coroner’s office also handles cases from the neighboring county of Brazoria.
On Tuesday, Henry attacked the state’s electric power grid, administered by the Texas Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT), for blackouts. In your county, most of the more than 340,000 residents have been without power for at least two days.
The county was warned on Sunday to prepare for blackouts, but Henry said the situation has worsened since then.
“What we found out quickly was that they weren’t rolling,” he said in a Facebook post. “They went out and stood for up to 48 hours at this point, and counting.”
He called the response “unacceptable”, considering that the storm had been forecast for about a week.
Continuous power outages have prompted authorities to request an investigation into the handling of the state’s power grid. Unlike the rest of the US, most of Texas is on its own power grid and its equipment has not withstood freezing temperatures.
On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott said he was calling for an investigation into ERCOT.
“Many Texans are without power and heating for their homes, as our state faces freezing temperatures and bitter winter,” he said in a statement. “This is unacceptable.”
Hidalgo, at a news conference, noted that ERCOT sent out, over the weekend, optimistic messages that power would be restored soon, just so that residents faced more power outages.
She warned residents that until ERCOT’s promises are fulfilled, they will need to continue to prepare for cold, power-free temperatures for the rest of the week.