hi. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. thanks so much for joining me. just ahead on cnn, a final night of a deep freeze in texas. the frigid temperatures and now a water crisis following the near total collapse of the state s power grid. also, america first no more. u.s. president joe biden striking a new tone, declaring america is back as he meets virtually with some of america s top allies. and she lived through the 1911 pandemic, now this 111-year-old woman just received her second dose of the covid vaccine. she shares her secret to a long life. . this is cnn newsroom with robyn curnow. millions of americans in texas are facing a worsening water crisis after winter storms devastated the region. more than half the state s residents are being told to boil their water if they have any at all. while much of the state s electricity has now been restored, freezing temperatures persisted for yet another night. president joe biden
millions of americans in the the state of texas are struggling to find drinking water after deadly winter storms left them without power for days. while the lights have largely come back on, more than half of the state s residents are being told to boil their water if they have any at all. long lines are now the normal mass water distribution sites as store shelves run bare. the damages are adding up as frozen pipes burst and frigid temperatures persist. u.s. president biden says that he will sign a natural disaster declar declaration. omar jimenez has more. you never used your fireplace before this? no. reporter: jen studebaker and her family were burning chairs, pieces of book shelves, before eventually scavaging for bits of wood without even a means to cut it. that hammer is what we were splitting it with. reporter: using their nearly abandoned fireplace now as a means of survival. this is the head of the futon bed so it would be closer to the heat and he d all
some of the more than 2.6 million households without heat or power have been forced into community warming centers where available. other haves been sickened or killed by carbon monoxide from makeshift heating arrangements. one houston-area furniture store owner opened two locations for people to stay in and did the same after hurricane harvey but even remarkable individual acts of kindness can only go so far. the problems right now are statewide, affect millions, and instead of taking responsibility, it seems some top state officials are doing anything but. ed lavandera is in dallas tonight. what s the latest? reporter: well, anderson, right now the bottom line is the question that everyone wants the answer to is exactly when is the power going to be fully restored across this state? and sadly tonight, we don t have a firm timeline on when exactly that is happening. the state officials with the power grid system say that they are essentially at the mercy, at the power plan
some really concern concerning images, as you can see here, from the streets of tampa. many people crowded together, this weekend, with very few masks. and there are concerns super bowl parties could lead to a spike in cases. this, as the u.s. has surpassed 27 million known cases of coronavirus. and now, the new worries about the covid variants, first identified in the uk. a new study finds cases of this variant are increasing, rapidly, here, in the u.s., and significant community spread may, already, be happening. now, president joe biden calls the pandemic a, quote, national emergency. and criticized his predecessor s handling of it. take a listen. a disappointment was when we came into office is the circumstance relating to how the administration was handling covid was even more dire than we thought. the trump administration. we thought that it indicated there were a lot more vaccine available. and it didn t turn out to be the case. so, that s why we ve ramped up eve
the pentagon warning that russia could be preparing for a false flag operation as a way to invade ukraine, suggesting russia could stage an attack on their own troops or on russians inside ukraine. u.s. intelligence saying a russian invasion could soon be coming, and martha raddatz standing by with late reporting. tonight, the founder of the oath keepers in federal court, charged with seditious conspiracy for the january 6th attack. 11 members of the group now facing charges. prosecutors saying they were in the nation s capital, having purchased thousands of dollars in weapons and ammunition. tonight the founder s attorney now says they were there to provide security. pierre thomas standing by. tonight, inside the race to save lives. the harrowing videos just made public of the horrific fire near boulder, colorado. leave your stuff! go! the fire s at the back! residents with just seconds to evacuate. first responders driving through flames, going door to door to get f