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With thousands hit with power outages and electricity being rationed, Texas remains in a deep freeze as dual winter storms pound the state dropping temperatures to well below zero at night and hovering below freezing during the day.
President Joe Biden declared an emergency on Monday, unlocking federal assistance to Texas, where temperatures ranged from 28 to minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hundreds of businesses, schools and clinics closed due to a statewide Artic freeze in Texas. The winter storm that swept across the state reached into the northern part of neighboring Mexico this past weekend making roads dangerous, freezing water pipes and stressing the power grid.
The weather event has raised demand for power, forcing the state's electric grid operator on to impose rotating blackouts, leaving 4.7 million customers without power even as temperatures dipped to near record lows. Around midday Monday, service had been restored to almost 2.6 million of them.
The PowerOutage.us website, which tracks power outages, said 4,088,064 Texas customers were experiencing outages on Monday.
Meanwhile, the $9 billion ERCOT Texas power grid built on the taxpayer dime was struggling to keep the power on as the price of electricity rises. The spot price of wholesale electricity on the ERCOT grid spiked more than 10,000% to $9,000/MWh late Monday morning, compared with prestorm prices of less than $50/MWh.
"The Texas power grid has not been compromised,” according to Governor Greg Abbott. The ability of some companies that generate the power has been frozen. They are working to get generation back online."
Abbott also deployed the National Guard statewide to assist in the restoration of electricity.
Road have also become extremely hazardous with the frigid icy conditions. Despite all precautions, car crashes still occur with alarming regularity. Such was the case on Friday when more than 100 cars collided with each other on the icy surface of a highway in Fort Worth. The pileup expanded to roughly a halfmile, as vehicles were unable to avoid collisions. The situation was so massive, 26 fire department units, 80 police cars, and 13 ambulances were dispatched to the crash scene.
The frigid temperatures aren’t only affecting roads, residences and businesses, ranchers have been fighting to their livestock watered and fed to withstand the cold. Ranchers have been working around the clock to make sure their cows have just what they need.
Airports were also hit hard, with DFW, Love Field, Houston Intercontinental and Hobby canceling at least 1,600 flights. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines reported 60 flight cancellations at Dallas Love Field on Monday. Systemwide, the airlines had more than 730 cancellations. Fort Worth-based American Airlines reported 402 flight cancellations out of DFW Airport and 993 systemwide.
The National Weather Service said the Arctic blast will not subside until late in the week, with another storm on the way which is expected to bring more snow, ice and sleet from the Texas Panhandle through Kentucky and up through Washington D.C. to New York City, New Jersey and Boston.
"It's not really going to warm up until at least Friday," said David Roth, of the NWS Weather Prediction Center. "We're not getting a break."