AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – A cold winter blast in the US plunged Texas into an exceptionally cold emergency on Monday, February 15, which shut down the power of more than 2 million people and closed supermarkets and roads with dangerous snow.
The slow thaw and colder casualties ahead were also affecting Texas’ distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
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The worsening conditions interrupted the delivery of the shipments of COVID-19 vaccines and left some Texas suppliers struggling to find buyers for doses that expired in a few hours.
State health officials said Texas, which was due to receive more than 400,000 additional doses of vaccines this week, now does not expect deliveries to take place until at least Wednesday.
But with doses already expiring, Rice University on Monday abruptly started offering vaccines on its closed campus in Houston.
The Harris Health System told the school that it had about 1,000 vaccines that were “going to waste” and asked if the school could find candidates, said Doug Miller, a university spokesman.
“The window was only a few hours away. They have to take care of that quickly, ”said Miller.
Temperatures plummeted to the single-digit house south of San Antonio, and houses that had been without electricity for hours were unsure about when the lights and heating would return, as the state’s overloaded power grid was strangling in rotating blackouts. which are normally seen only in summers of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
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The storm was part of a huge system that brought snow, hail and freezing rain to the southern plains and spread across the Ohio Valley and the Northeast. Southwest Power Pool, a group of utilities in 14 states, called for ongoing interruptions because the backup power supply had run out. Some utilities said they are starting blackouts, while others are asking customers to reduce energy use.
“We are experiencing a truly historic event happening now,” said Jason Furtado, professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, pointing to all of Texas under a winter storm warning and the extension of freezing temperatures.
In Houston, where county leaders warned that the freeze could create problems on the scale of hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast, an electricity supplier said the power may not be restored in some homes until Tuesday.
“This climatic event is really unprecedented. All of us who live here know this, ”said Dan Woodfin, senior director of system operations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. He defended the preparations made by the network operators and described the demand in the system as a record.
“This event went well beyond the design parameters for a typical, or even extreme, Texas winter that you would normally plan. And this is really the result we are seeing, ”said Woodfin.
President Joe Biden also declared a Texas emergency in a statement on Sunday night. The statement aims to add federal aid to state and local response efforts.
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(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)