US: Millions of Texans Remain Without Power Due to Winter Storm

According to official reports, this phenomenon caused some 40 deaths throughout the country, left many roads impassable, interrupted the distribution of vaccines against COVID-19, and covered almost three-quarters of the continental United States with snow.

In the state of Texas, extremely low temperatures and power outages also affected the water supply for millions of people.

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There are severe problems for hospitals in the area to treat patients in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already left more than 500,000 dead throughout the country, and in Texas to date, the death toll has exceeded 41,730.

Austin, Texas Mayor Steve Adler told CNN's New Day Thursday that city officials are just trying to keep people alive and safe for the next few days.

Adler added that the situation for Austin residents is quite dire as difficulties are compounded by increasing snow and ice, freezing temperatures, power outages, and water supply limitations.

According to the official, who is a member of the Democratic Party, "people are angry, confused and frustrated and so am I."

Adler called on Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, and other state officials to provide a better explanation of what happened and what will be done in the future.

Meanwhile, hospitals in Houston, the state's largest city, and elsewhere in Texas are without water, and about 20 deaths were attributed to the cold snap.

"This is, in many ways, a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which encompasses Houston, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, residents in more than 100 Texas counties have been ordered to boil water to make it drinkable as treatment plants continue to be affected by power outages.

More than 12,000,000 people in the state - the second largest in the country with a population of about 29,000,000 - have no or only intermittent drinking water.

Today, the National Weather Service reported that the lack of power and drinking water for millions of people in Texas and other regions could be exacerbated starting Thursday by a swath of severe weather stretching from the Rio Grande River to New York.

That major winter storm would bring freezing rain, snow, and well below-average temperatures, a blow to Texans who, according to the Houston Chronicle newspaper, had to resort to stoves, barbecue grills, gasoline generators, and their vehicles to keep warm.