Texans deserve answers about a “man-made” energy crisis caused by a deadly winter storm that devastated the state, a senior county official said on Friday.
“This was a man-made disaster that disrupted lives,” Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat, tweeted on Friday. “We are now reporting 10 deaths from hypothermia in Harris County, more than 600 cases of carbon monoxide, and still counting. When the dust settles, people deserve answers and responsibility ”.
In Texas, a county judge is similar to a county executive in other parts of the U.S.
Harris County, which includes Houston, is the country’s third most populous county, with more than 4 million residents. Only Los Angeles County (more than 9 million residents) and Cook County, Illinois (more than 5 million residents), which includes Chicago, are larger.
Nearly four dozen people in Texas and nine other states hit by the storm reportedly died on Friday.
Employees of the Texas Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT), which operates the state’s power grid, were forced to cut power to millions of residents this week when the sharp drop in temperatures caused an increase in demand that threatened the stability of the network .
TEXAS TEMPERATURE SCALE, ENERGY MADE REPAIRED, BUT LACK OF WATER AND FOOD REMAINS
At midday on Friday, some 180,000 customers remained without power, down from more than 4 million at the beginning of the week.
People wait in line to fill the propane tanks on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, in Houston. (Associated Press)
Even so, almost half of the state has been advised to boil drinking water and residents also face empty supermarket shelves.
Governor Greg Abbott, at a news conference on Thursday, asked state lawmakers to determine winter preparation for power generators and modernization of the network, KSAT-TV in San Antonio reported.
“We all agree on the need for action,” Abbott told reporters. “Not just the action taken to restore your power, but action to ensure that you never have to endure something like this again.”
The disaster caused a large number of accusations, and ERCOT on Tuesday cleared up false stories circulating online that claim that wind turbines freezing in cold weather were primarily responsible for the Texans’ loss of electricity.
Failures in natural gas, coal and nuclear power systems were responsible for almost twice as many outages as frozen wind turbines and combined solar panels, ERCOT told a news conference.
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Hidalgo also stressed the importance of being “united” during a crisis.
“I want to thank President Biden, Governor Abbott and our Congressional delegation for their tireless efforts to secure a Declaration of Serious Disaster. More help is on the way.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.