While a major winter storm hits much of the country, President Joe Biden approved the Texas emergency disaster proclamation on Sunday.
The statement orders federal assistance to complement state and local storm response efforts, according to a White House statement.
“The president’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with the aim of alleviating the adversities and suffering caused by the emergency in the local population, and provide adequate assistance for necessary emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and protect property and public health and safety, and to mitigate or prevent the threat of catastrophe in all 254 counties in Texas “said the White House statement.
As of 9:30 pm, Texas had more than 140,000 customers without electricity and state officials warned that that number could increase.
Texas told residents that they should save energy due to frozen turbines and equipment. As of 6 pm, just under half of all of its parcels were frozen or unable to operate due to the extreme cold, according to ABC affiliate Dallas WFAA.
“There is certainly a possibility that we may experience rotating outages,” Dan Woodfin, senior director of system operations at the Texas Electric Reliability Council, the agency that oversees the state’s power grid, told WFAA. “We believe that we can have that tomorrow [Monday] and Tuesday. This is a little more likely. “
ERCOT set a new peak winter demand record on Sunday, reaching 69,150 MW between 6pm and 7pm, the board said in a statement. He said that figure is more than 3,200 MW higher than the previous winter peak set in January 2018.
To help conserve energy, ERCOT asked residents to close the curtains, turn off unused appliances, wait a few days to wash clothes and put on warmer clothes and warm up to 20 degrees.
According to the National Meteorological Service, many parts of the state will experience “dangerously cold” temperatures on Sunday night and Monday, when there will be “widespread chills” from -10 to -20 degrees.
Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo said that “the window to prepare for this historic storm has closed, as the time to calm down is here,” during a news conference on Sunday. Hidalgo approved a disaster proclamation for the county, which includes Houston.
She and the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, encouraged people to stay at home and off the road. “… it is very, very important. People stay away from the roads so that we do not cause a disaster upon a disaster,” officials said on Sunday.
According to ABC KTRK station in Houston, the coldest climate in 122 years is moving into the city.
Houston police chief Art Acevedo said the police are working on 134 climate-related traffic accidents across the city. “Please avoid traveling until the harsh weather has calmed down,” he tweeted.
In neighboring Oklahoma, a state of emergency remains in effect for all 77 counties due to the storm. A statewide winter storm alert for heavy snow and dangerous chills of the wind remains in place.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol reports that it responded to 56 uninjured collisions, 24 injured collisions and 116 driver assistance during the winter storm. There are more than 3,000 customers without power on Sunday Night Sooner State.
There are widespread power cuts elsewhere, including Oregon, with more than 249,000 customers without power, 166,000 in Virginia, 37,000 in North Carolina and 11,172 in Kentucky.