Almost 500,000 people without electricity for more than three days, Mayor of the United States: it is a matter of life and death | Mansfield

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Almost 500,000 people have been without power for more than three days, Midea mayor: it’s a matter of life and death

[Text / Observer Net Zhang Chenjing]This week, an unprecedented winter storm hit the United States, causing nearly 30 deaths. Under the cold snap, to prevent the grid from collapsing, the Texas grid operator claimed to implement rotating blackouts. Yet, according to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NPR), nearly 500,000 people in Texas have been without power for three and a half years. days.

Faced with such an emergency situation, Michael Evans, the mayor of Mansfield in Northeast Texas, complained about the so-called “rotating power supply” in an interview on February 18 local time, describing the time as it is. The storm of the state The crisis has “life or death”.

In recent days, the Texas power grid operator, the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), has come under fire across the state. To prevent the grid from collapsing, they began to implement alternative power outages in various regions, each within an hour. However, a large number of residents report that this is not the case.

In response to much criticism, the Texas Power Reliability Commission stated on the 18th that they had instructed suppliers to restore power supplies that were previously interrupted. However, according to data from the US utility tracking website PowerOutage, as of early February 18, there were still 495,000 outages in Texas, about 124,000 in Louisiana, and about 182,000 in Mississippi. Electricity.

The NPR report noted that for many severely affected areas, the future will usher in more severe weather. Faced with such a situation, on February 18, Michael Evans, the newly elected mayor of Mansfield, Texas, complained in an interview with the US media NPR that the blackout was not entirely due to severe cold. There have been many power outages. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily due to the weather. We are members of the Texas Electrical Reliability Commission … Some people have been without power for more than 3 days and still have a low temperature. weather”.

The city of Mansfield, with a population of about 80,000, experienced the coldest temperature in history this week, minus 2 degrees. This rotating blackout was run by ERCOT, and Evans charged in an interview,“The problem is that they did not take turns.” “When you’ve been without power for three and a half days … and your neighbors are about three blocks from you, and they haven’t cut the power at all. You’ll start to wonder if there are alternative power outages.”

　　Evans claimed they were told each blackout was 15 to 45 minutes, but this is clearly not the case. Nursing homes and facilities for the elderly were also out of order. In this time of life and death, fortunately, neighbors and churches have reached out to help those who have been isolated.

“I spoke to a family yesterday,” Evans said. The temperature in his house was 32 degrees. They invited some people who had just met to the house. They all wore gloves and masks and stayed at both ends of the house. “You know, this is survival.”

Earlier on the 17th, Texas Governor Greg Abbott also pointed the finger at the Texas Electric Power Reliability Commission and called this “ERCOT a total failure and demonstrated its unreliability.” He believes ERCOT leadership must take the blame and resign.

Abbott believes it has issued an early warning and ERCOT knew beforehand that it would deal with the extreme cold. “In this case, the government must rely on these experts to respond.”

On the 13th, Texas Governor Abbott issued a disaster declaration to all 254 counties in the state for the first time. Subsequently, in response to the situation in Texas, the President of the United States, Biden, also declared a state of emergency in the state on the 14th and increased federal assistance.

NPR reported that more than 30 people died this week due to the weather, some of whom died while heating at home. In a Houston suburb, a grandmother and her three grandchildren died in a fire. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. But according to the Houston Chronicle, they have been using the fireplace to heat up after the blackout.

Portland General Electric (PGE) director of utility operations Dale Goodman (Dale Goodman) described this as the most dangerous situation in PGE history and declined to predict when power would be restored to all users. . According to the National Weather Service, the Appalachian Mountains, northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania will see heavy snow and ice on the 18th.

Editor in charge: Xue Yongwei