ACROSS THE US SOUTHERN STATES DEADLY WINTER STORM SWEEPS

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In the US Southern states, ice and snow have brought by a winter storm to many regions that rarely see such frigid conditions.

A surge in demand for electricity has led to widespread power cuts in Texas. On Tuesday, the state is bracing for another icy storm.

More than 150 million Americans were now under winter storm warnings, according to the National Weather Service.

The widespread storm has claimed as least 11 lives.

Deaths have been reported in the US southern states of Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Kentucky.

A tornado spawned by the same storm in North Carolina left three dead and 10 injured early on Tuesday morning. According to the officials, rescues are going on.

On Monday, the freezing storm even reached northern parts of Mexico where more than four million homes and businesses lost power.

WHAT IS GOING ON IN TEXAS?

A state of emergency has been approved by Joe Biden in Texas which has seen some of its coldest temperatures in more than 30 years. On Sunday, some areas recorded temperatures as low as 0F on Sunday.

The power grid has failed because of the high demand for electricity in the state. In some areas, rolling blackouts have been imposed to conserve power for police, hospitals, and fire stations which has consequently left 4,3 million people without electricity.

On Sunday, the crisis was worsened when nearly half the wind power generation of the state was knocked by the storm. The second-largest source of electricity is wind power.

People have been advised to avoid travel where possible since icy roads have also led to a spate of traffic accidents.

Nearly 120 road crashes were reported on Sunday alone in Houston. On Sunday, several lorries were left on fire after a pile-up on a major highway near Oklahoma City during a snowstorm.

Until Tuesday afternoon, the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and the Hobby Airport of the city were both closed.

On Tuesday, the Texas state legislature closed down due to the storm in the southern states. Because of the extreme winter weather Texans experienced that week caused the lights to go off across the Lone Star State, the house Speaker Dade Phelan asked the lawmakers to stay away from the Austin slatehouse.

All Texans have been urged by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott to remain vigilant against the extremely harsh weather.

HOW ARE THE BUSINESSES AND HOMES IN TEXAS AFFECTED?

Normally, the houses in Texas are not insulated for cold weather which means that indoor temperatures in homes quickly dropped to freezing after head systems failed. Despite attempts by homeowners to insulate them from the cold using blankets, frozen pipes also burst.

Authorities in Houston say two family members died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning after they ran their car in an enclosed garage to keep warm.

Members of another family in Fort Worth were taken to hospital in a critical condition for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.

Due to power cuts, the Houston Chronicle was unable to print its daily newspaper. The paper in a note to its readers said that it has still been able to print an edition in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey which had left 75 people dead.

Water services were shut off in the city of Abilene which is home to about 125,000 residents after all of the treatment plants of the city lost power.

Power was lost at a medical facility in Houston where over 8,000 coronavirus vaccine doses were being kept and the officials were forced to send the doses to other facilities before they were spoilt.

On Tuesday, Chuck Hairston had been without electricity for about 31 hours.

According to the Texas native who is now 48 years old, he had never seen such snowy weather before while he had seen some days get nearly this cold.

He and his family might have to evacuate to a nearby warming shelter if the power does not get restored by Tuesday night.

He said that he had not seen any indication that the leadership of the state is doing much of anything about the situation. He thinks everybody has sort of thrown up their hands and have said that one has to wait until it gets warmer.

CBS News reported that temperatures in the city of Dallas have been colder than in Alaska and Anchorage.

In a statement, the NWS said that over 150 million Americans are currently under ice storm warnings, winter storm warnings, winter weather advisories, winter storm watches as impactful weather continue from coast to coast.

 

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