A rare deep freeze in Texas that raised demand for power forced the US state’s electric grid operator yesterday to impose rotating blackouts that left nearly 3mn customers without electricity.
The PowerOutage.us website, which tracks power outages, said 2,802,978 Texas customers were experiencing outages at 12.18pm CST (1818 GMT).
President Joe Biden declared an emergency yesterday, unlocking federal assistance to Texas, where temperatures yesterday ranged from 28 to minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2 to minus 22 Celsius).
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport was closed until 1pm CST (1900GMT) while the city’s Hobby Airport was to cease operations due to the inclement weather.
The freeze also took a toll on the energy industry in Texas, by far the country’s largest crude producer, shutting oil refineries and forcing restrictions from natural gas pipeline operators.
Apart from Texas, much of the US was in the grip of bone-chilling weather over the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service said an Arctic air mass had spread southwards, well beyond areas accustomed to freezing weather, with winter storm warnings posted for most of the Gulf Coast region, Oklahoma and Missouri.
In Louisiana, where freezing temperatures also prompted power outages and road closures, some parishes imposed curfews to keep residents off the road.
The deep freeze sweeping Texas reached the northern part of neighbouring Mexico as well, where authorities said they were working to fix power outages that affected 400,000 users.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) sought to cut power use in response to a winter record of 69,150 megawatts (MW) on Sunday evening, more than 3,200MW higher than the previous winter peak in January 2018.
A motorist drives past a rock wall covered with ice on Interstate 71 as snow begins to fall in Louisville, Kentucky, US, yesterday.
