No official explanation for long lines at gas stations
and last updated 2021-02-16 23:49:48-05
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas â There are only theories as to why gas stations across the Coastal Bend saw long lines of cars Tuesday leading to some stations running out of gasoline entirely.
Power outages attributed to the current Arctic blast forcing lots of people to turn to generators for electricity could be a contributing factor.
Brian Breaux s home on North Padre Island has been without power for two days.
He bought gasoline for his generator at the Stripes gas station at Morgan and Crosstown Tuesday.
âEvery gas station Iâve been to has been really busy, Breaux said. They were all the way back towards the island. Thereâs a lot of chaos right now over fuel. I donât know why. This storm isn t going to last forever.â
In a stark warning, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and CenterPoint Energy cautioned area residents Tuesday night that the catastrophic power outages affecting more than a million locals could be with us even longer than the hellaciously cold weather dumped on Texas by an unprecedented winter storm.
“Let me give it to you straight, based on the visibility I have: Whether you have power or not right now, there is a possibility of power outages even beyond the length of this weather,” Hidalgo said.
The reason these outages might last even longer than the cold weather is because even once Texas warms up, it’s still likely that the state’s independent power generators whom state regulators have relatively little control over thanks to Texas’ largely free-market power system will still have trouble cooking up enough electricity. It’s a problem affecting all the state’s forms of power generation, including natural gas, coal, nuclear and wind power.
Water Boil Notice Issued for the City of Victoria
Due to recent severe weather impacts on Victoria’s public water system, the City of Victoria is advising all residents to boil water prior to consumption.
Water customers should follow below precautionary boil-water instructions. This boil water notice is unrelated to rumors that began yesterday claiming the City was shutting off residents’ water. Residents who lost water service before today’s interruptions in supply may have been due to residential pipes freezing over.
Children, seniors, and persons with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to harmful bacteria, so to ensure the destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use for drinking water or human consumption purposes.
Oil prices advanced on Tuesday as a deep freeze threatened energy supplies in Texas, a key crude producing state in the United States, Trend reports citing Xinhua .