Historic winter in Texas: residents share apocalyptic views



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In Dallas, where the air temperature typically rises to 15 ° C in February, Thomas Black has shared a photo on social media of an icy fan in an apartment hallway, reports eu.usatoday.com.

Black saw an “apocalyptic scene” early Monday morning.

A pipe was missing in the cold aisle and the leaking water froze in the fan. In recent days, Dallas residents have seen even more surreal sights: an ice-covered swimming pool, icy walkways, and water spilling from buildings.

“The pipes are breaking everywhere,” said Black, whose apartment had leaked water but there were no power outages.

“The people of Texas are just not used to it, so it is clear that there will be panic, as it happened at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Black told Yahoo News. – If you go to the store now, you will see an empty meat section, an empty vegetable section. I suppose there is no more perishable food and of course toilet paper. “

“The managers have disappointed us in all areas,” he added. “I am really worried.”

“We have been hit by a humanitarian crisis and our leadership will have to do everything possible to make the future look brighter,” Black said. “The current situation looks bad if the next storm is as strong or more severe than the previous one.”

Erica Gittens, who lives in San Marco, has been hiding in other people’s houses since Sunday when water flooded the apartment while talking to a roommate.

“At first we thought maybe that would turn the air conditioning on,” Gittens said. “But we soon realized that the water was splashing.” The roof started to sag. “

Given the extremely low temperatures, a winter storm in Texas could only be an event “once in a few decades,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said earlier this week.

Still, the state is bracing for another cold draft in the coming days, with more than $ 100 million. the Americans found themselves on the road to another winter storm. According to the US National Weather Service, it is moving from the Great Plains to the East Coast.

He even went to Mexico

Millions of Americans were without power Wednesday after large storms triggered by the winter storm drew large areas of the United States and even reached Mexico.

The Arctic tide, which dropped air temperatures to record lows in unprepared areas, has almost completely paralyzed local public services and infuriated people who have left themselves wandering and wrapped in warm clothing or blankets.

In Texas, electric utilities have been forced to turn off residents’ power in turn to avoid overloading the system when most residents turn on electric heaters. Some people are without electricity for more than a day.

“I’ve been sitting without power for the second night in the coldest winter in southeast Texas in over 30 years,” wrote Wes Wolfe of Lake Jackson, Texas, on Twitter.

“For dinner, I ate half a roll with a falafel on the laptop light, then put it under my blankets, which were still covered in a heavy coat,” he wrote.

The PowerOUGE.US website reported that in Texas alone, there were more than 3 million people without power on Wednesday morning. population and companies.

Electricity demand has risen dramatically this week as ice has crashed into wind farms and gas-fired power plants shut down.

The American Red Cross has announced the opening of more than 35 heating centers in Texas.

More than 30 deaths related to winter storms have been recorded since the cold snap hit the country last week, media reported.

Several animals died at the Primively Primates shelter in San Antonio, Texas, after a power outage Monday and shelter staff were unable to warm them.

The center’s director, Brooke Chávez, told local media that the refuge had lost a chimpanzee, several monkeys, lemurs and tropical birds.

The mayor of the small community of Colorado City, in West Texas, resigned after offering the helpless “residents to create a game plan” and “tease and take care of your family!”

“I’m tired of people expecting those damn benefits,” Tim Boyd wrote on Facebook, although the post was later removed.

On Thursday, the Arctic air wave, which caused the air temperature in the southeast of the country to drop to record lows, moved east.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a winter storm warning for the area from eastern Texas to the eastern coast of Maryland.

The NWS warned of preparation for drizzle, ice and heavy snow in some areas of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as the winter storm moved northeast.

Although the Arctic cold is beginning to recede in the part of the country that is not used to such temperatures, the weather will remain cold, the NWS said.

“The arctic cold will continue to press in the region of the plains and the valley of Mississippi, where temperatures will be 25 to 40 [Farenheito] degrees below average, ”the NWS said Wednesday.

President Joe Biden has postponed a visit to Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine plant in Kalmazu, Michigan, until Friday, and there will be no federal government office in Washington on Thursday.

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