The huge energy crisis that has been oppressor Texas since the state was hit by a record-breaking cold wave, it is now threatening some of its most vulnerable residents, and at least two hospitals in the Austin metropolitan area were being evacuated on Wednesday night due to a lack of hot water and heat .
Matt Largey, editor of Austin’s NPR KUT station, tweeted a statement from St. Austin’s South Austin Medical Center on Wednesday that confirmed that the hospital was in the process of evacuating some of its “just under 300 patients” from the facility after “losing water pressure today from the city of Austin “.
“The water feeds the plant’s boiler and, as a result, also loses heat,” says the statement. The note states that hospital staff were working with city officials to transport the neediest patients to other hospitals in the area with available capacity, and were also working to place water trucks and portable toilets on site for workers and patients who would remain .
Minutes later, Largey reported that Dell Children’s Medical Center, a pediatric hospital located in Austin, was also without power. In a hospital statement sent by a source, officials confirmed that “extreme weather” resulted in “service interruptions” at the facility and noted that the bathrooms lacked “flushing capacity”.
The blackouts happening in Texas are the result of a voltage on the existing power supply caused by thousands of state residents rushing to turn on the heating at once. But they are also the result of – surprise! – corporate falsehood and decades of neglect and oversight in the hands of the state’s right-wing government.
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While Texas residents are trapped at home dealing with the consequences of ice storms, widespread outages fish tanks and toilets who literally froze, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, was doing the rounds on Fox News, blaming renewable energy sources like solar and wind for blackouts. On a blog posted at The website of minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, recently hinted that the situation represented a chance for Texans to harden up and make a sacrifice to prevent the left from exploiting an “opportunity to expand his radical proposals from top to bottom. “
“Texans would be without electricity for more than three days to keep the federal government out of business,” Perry wrote. “Try not to let the crisis of the day take your eyes off having a resilient grid that keeps America safe personally, economically and strategically.”
While millions of Texans freeze, the GOP is using this moment to showcase its commitment to ignoring the climate disaster that is no longer just on its doorstep, but in its living rooms, heating up a bowl of chili and preparing to watch the game. Longhorns.
It is a commitment to fossil fuel lobby this is not just ignorant, it is evil – and one day it will be a disaster for all of us.