The Atlantic
What went wrong? The Lone Star State made three fundamental errors.
February 21, 2021
Texas’s outage left millions of people, including Manessa Grady and her two sons, in the dark.Tamir Kalifa / The New York Times / Redux
How could this have happened? For four days, millions of people in Texas the so-called energy capital of the world shivered in the dark, unable to turn the lights on or run their heaters during some of the coldest days in decades. At least 30 Texans have died so far, including a 75-year-old man whose oxygen machine lost power and an 11-year-old boy who may have perished of hypothermia. Desperate families have tried to stay warm by running generators and grills indoors, leading to more than 450 carbon-monoxide poisonings, many of them in children.
AUSTIN At the height of the storm that blasted Texas, Maria Benitez huddled in her Austin apartment with her husband and four teenage children, eating tuna out of a can and sipping on powdered milk. With no power, her apartment was dangerously cold and the family pulled on several pairs of pants and sweaters to keep warm.
Benitez s power and water returned Thursday, just as her fridge and cupboards grew bare
. But now a new struggle begins: The storm kept her from cleaning homes all week and, as her family s sole wage earner, she s instantly behind on rent and utilities. Grocery donations from friends have helped. But those will run out soon.
Texas winter storm could make life worse for Black and Latino families hit hard by power outages N dea Yancey-Bragg and Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
Texas mom describes three days without power with three kids, two dogs, husband
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AUSTIN At the height of the storm that blasted Texas, Maria Benitez huddled in her Austin apartment with her husband and four teenage children, eating tuna out of a can and sipping on powdered milk. With no power, her apartment was dangerously cold and the family pulled on several pairs of pants and sweaters to keep warm.
Benitez s power and water returned Thursday, just as her fridge and cupboards grew bare
Texas winter storm could make life worse for Black and Latino families hit hard by power outages msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
E&E News staff
Icicles on a home in Austin, Texas. Photo credit: Sandy Carson/ZUMA Press/Newscom
Icicles are pictured dropping from a roof in Austin, Texas, on Monday, as icy weather enveloped the state and caused widespread power outages. Sandy Carson/ZUMA Press/Newscom
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said yesterday that he s asking state lawmakers to mandate the winterization of the electric system in the wake of a deadly storm that stretched the Texas grid nearly to collapse. I m calling for the funding needed to ensure that this winterization and modernization occurs, Abbott said during a news conference. Winterization involves practices such as de-icing wind turbines and adding insulation or heating to prevent parts from freezing at conventional power plants.