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A homeless encampment is pictured under a highway overpass Feb. 16, 2020, during a winter storm in Austin, Texas. Austin planned to operate over a dozen warming shelters around the clock for the city s vulnerable population until the historic cold outbreak ended. (CNS/Isabelle Baldwin)
Houston While snow and ice turned Texas into a winter wonderland, inside homes the February winter storm was devastating, especially in underserved communities, where millions of Texans struggled to survive in freezing temperatures, without power, heat or water.
The current death toll is 58, according to news reports, but that number is likely to increase in the coming weeks. Some people died from accidents driving on icy roads, while at least two died of carbon monoxide poisoning trying to stay warm, and there were 160 reports of other health effects due to potential carbon monoxide exposure, according to Texas health officials.
The bodies kept coming to the morgue, but none were leaving.
Frozen to death from hypothermia. Poisoned by carbon monoxide. Trapped in home fires. Dead from crashes on icy roads.
The Dallas County medical examiner’s Office was close to capacity and funeral homes couldn’t pick up bodies as the winter storm made roads icy and caused millions of power outages across Texas.
More bodies came last week as families, unable to check on loved ones during the storm, discovered relatives died in their homes and the bodies of the homeless were found. Dr. Jeffrey Barnard, Dallas County medical examiner, asked hospitals to hold onto bodies a few extra days. Morgue doctors stored others in the cooling trucks that are used only in emergencies.