Texans face shortage of drinking water as the power grid returns to normal

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that some 165,000 homes across the state have no electricity because of interrupted power lines or because homes need to be manually reconnected to the power system.

“There are no more residential power cuts due to the lack of power generation,” said Abbott.

“For those who are still without power, we want them to know that local suppliers are working around the clock to restore electricity,” said the governor.

Abbott said officials were also focused on restoring access to drinking water. The governor said that broken water pipes could be the biggest challenge that Texans will face next week.

Abbott asked homeowners and renters to contact their insurers shortly about property damage caused by the bad weather of the week. Uninsured people can seek help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after President Biden approves a declaration of great disaster for the state.

Texas officials are asking residents to report any incidents of price increases.

Houston area residents have filed complaints about bottled water and overpriced hotel rooms, according to Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, chief civil prosecutor in Texas’s largest county, and Harris County judge, Linda Hidalgo.

“We saw some anecdotal evidence of outrageous prices on necessary items like food and water, basically, price increases,” Hidalgo told a news conference.

“Whether it’s raising the price of basic necessities, or posting an Airbnb with power for $ 1,000 a night – we can’t imagine anything more cruel than taking advantage of people who are suffering right now in this disaster and have been suffering for days,” added Hidalgo , which asked residents to report cases of abuse.

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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is from New York, but is focusing on Texas this week. Ocasio-Cortez responded to the dire situation in the state by creating a fundraiser, which until Thursday had raised $ 1 million, she said.

Ocasio-Cortez said 100% of the donations will go to The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, Ending Community Homeless Coalition, Family Eldercare, Houston Food Bank and Feeding Texas.

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The main Texas utility official said the system was “seconds and minutes” from leaving residents without power for months.

The Texas Electric Reliability Council received intense criticism for leaving about 4 million customers without power this week. Bill Magness, the chairman and CEO of the board, told the Texas Tribune on Wednesday that it could have been much worse.

Magness told the outlet that network operators acted quickly to cut the amount of energy distributed on Monday – and if they hadn’t, Texas could have suffered blackouts that “could have occurred for months” and left the state in a crisis ” indefinitely long “.

“This needed to be resolved immediately,” said Magness. “It took seconds and minutes [from possible failure] given the amount of generation that was leaving the system. “

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Firefighters in San Antonio fought a major fire in an apartment complex without the help of fire hydrants on Thursday night. The teams had to bring water to the place, where the hydrants were frozen.

CBS affiliate KENS-TV showed footage of a fire truck pouring water into a makeshift pool in a parking lot. A different truck would pump water from the pool to the hoses.

“There is a fire hydrant right in front of the building, it is frozen and none of the hydrants here work, and they are all frozen,” Jerry Bialick, head of the Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department, told WOAI-TV.

Bialick told the station’s firefighters that they would use thousands of gallons of water in a matter of minutes.

Neighbors told KENS-TV that 130 residents of the building managed to get out safely.

President Biden says he is making a major disaster declaration for Texas that will pave the way for more federal resources, and he plans to visit the state at a time when he will not interfere with the disaster response.

The disaster declaration will unlock more resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Texas. The president said he would sign the declaration on Friday, after signing an emergency declaration for the state five days ago.

The president also said he plans to visit Texas, but he wants to wait until his presence is not a burden or disrupts the emergency response.

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Texas network operators said on Friday that the electrical system was back to normal.

Minor interruptions still remained on Friday. But Bill Magness, chairman of the Texas Electric Reliability Council, says the power grid again has enough capacity to supply power to the entire system.

The interim head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said he is concerned that people remain warm in Texas. With sub-zero temperatures expected for Friday night, interim administrator Bob Fenton urged people to go to shelters or heating stations if they still don’t have heating.

“If you’re cold, don’t stay home, go to one of the heating stations,” said Fenton on “CBS This Morning”.

Fenton said his agency was in the state providing supplies such as blankets, fuel, meals and water.

Fenton encouraged people whose properties were damaged by bad weather to consult their insurance provider before seeking help from the federal government. Texans could receive government aid if the president Biden issues a statement of major disaster for the state.

Some Texans will handle surprisingly high electricity bills.

Most residents enter into one of two types of contracts with energy suppliers: a fixed or higher variable rate. With the variable, customers take a risk and can pay low rates when demand is low and higher rates when demand increases.

Meghan O’Neill, a Houston resident, paid more than $ 2,000 in two days. Your February account is now over $ 3,000.

“It’s like, OK, I feed my family or I take care of the heating, which one do I do?” O’Neill said.

Joshua Rhodes, an energy expert at the University of Texas, said those with flat rates could also pay more in the future.

“This effect will occur later, you know, dealerships and the like evaluate how much money they need to recover,” said Rhodes. “… Eventually, the customer always pays, you know, kind of at the end of it.”

The San Antonio Water System announced on Thursday that it will begin providing water distribution at seven pump locations around the city. Residents will receive up to five gallons per person and are advised to boil the water they receive as a precautionary measure.

The city of San Antonio and the San Antonio Food Bank will also provide bottled water distribution in locations around the city.

San Antonio experienced water cuts due to the emergence of winter weather, and the San Antonio Water System issued a boiling water warning on Wednesday to customers who still have access to water.

While Americans yearn for their pre-pandemic lives, the distribution of coronavirus vaccines is lagging behind as winter storms strike the United States. The disease has not only affected the way Americans live, but for how long. Jonathan Vigliotti reports to “CBS Evening News”.

As of Friday afternoon, 44 deaths were related to the harsh winter weather in seven states.

Most deaths were recorded in Texas, with 27 residents dying in storm-related incidents. Here is where they occurred: Harris County, which includes Houston, (14), Taylor County (6), Sugarland (4), Galveston County (2) and San Antonio (1).

Earlier this week, a grandmother and three children were killed in a house fire in Sugarland. City officials said the neighborhood was without power. The cause of the fire is under investigation.