Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power for the fourth consecutive day in Texas and nearly 12 million people are experiencing water supply problems, with cities like Austin issuing boiling water notices to residents.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that the situation is “very dire” in his city at the moment.
“We need to make sure that people are not using a drop of water that they do not need to use, so that we can rebuild our reserves and our pressure so that we can remove this warning,” said Adler. “It’s another really difficult thing to put on top of the community. But the message now is to focus on the next two, three days. Keep people safe, let’s save energy and water, and then we’ll have tons of questions.”
Adler said the state needs to better regulate its energy system.
“We also need an explanation and an understanding of how … we are not going to come back here again,” said Adler.
KP George, a Fort Bend County judge outside Houston, said he is sleeping in his office, but his home recovered from heat again last night.
“Many people are living in their cars and we are seeing some carbon monoxide fatalities here… and it’s a mess. It’s a mess, ”said George.
“We are on our own network; we are in a regional network. And I think we are paying a price for that now, ”he added.
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