Texans are struggling with a shortage of drinking water because the electricity grid is returning to normal

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that about 165,000 households in the state have no electricity due to power outages or because homes need to be manually reconnected to the electricity system.

“There are no more outages in homes due to the lack of power generation,” Abbott said.

“For those who still don’t have power, we want them to know that local suppliers are working around the clock to restore electricity,” said the governor.

Abbott said officials were also focused on restoring access to clean water. The governor said broken water pipes could be the biggest challenge Texans will face in the next week.

Abbott urged homeowners and renters to contact their insurance company soon about property damage from this week’s bad weather. People who don’t have insurance can seek help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after President Biden approves a major disaster statement for the state.

Texas officials are calling on residents to report any price gouging incident.

Houston residents have filed complaints about bottled water and hotel rooms being offered at outrageous prices, according to Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, Texas’ largest county Chief Civil Attorney, and Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo.

“We have seen anecdotal evidence of exorbitant prices for necessary items such as food and water, in fact price gouges,” Hidalgo said at a news conference.

“Whether it’s raising the price of basic necessities, whether it’s putting an Airbnb powered by $ 1,000 per night – we can’t imagine anything more cruel than taking advantage of people who are currently in this disaster. suffering and suffering for days, ”added Hidalgo, urging residents to report cases of abuse.

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Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is from New York, but focuses on Texas this week. Ocasio-Cortez responded to the dire situation in the state by creating a fundraiser, which had raised $ 1 million as of Thursday, she said.

Ocasio-Cortez said 100% of donations will go to The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, Ending Community Homeless Coalition, Family Eldercare, Houston Food Bank, and Feeding Texas.

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The top Texas power grid official said the system was “seconds and minutes” away to leave residents without power for months.

The Texas Electric Reliability Council was heavily criticized for leaving some 4 million customers without power this week. Bill Magness, the president and CEO of the board, told the Texas Tribune on Wednesday that things could have been much worse.

Magness told the outlet that grid operators were acting quickly to reduce the amount of power distributed on Monday – and had they not, Texas could have experienced blackouts that “could have occurred for months” and the state in an “indefinite state. long “crisis.

“It had to be dealt with immediately,” said Magness. “It was seconds and minutes [from possible failure] given the amount of generation that came from the system. “

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Firefighters in San Antonio fought a massive fire in an apartment complex on Thursday night without the help of hydrants. Crews had to bring water to the spot where fire hydrants had frozen shut.

CBS subsidiary KENS-TV showed footage of a fire truck dumping water into a makeshift pool in a parking lot. Another truck would pump water from the pool into hoses.

“There’s a hydrant right in front of the building, it’s frozen solid and none of the hydrants here are working, and they’re all frozen,” Jerry Bialick, volunteer head of the Bexar-Bulverde Fire Department told WOAI-TV.

Bialick said the station’s firefighters would be using thousands of gallons of water within minutes.

Neighbors told KENS-TV that the 130 residents of the building have arrived safely.

President Biden says he is making a major disaster statement for Texas paving the way for more federal funding, and he plans to visit the state at a time when he will not interfere in response to disasters.

The disaster statement will unlock more resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Texas. The president said he would sign the statement Friday, after signing an emergency statement to the state five days ago.

The president also said he plans to visit Texas, but wants to wait until his presence won’t be a burden or hinder disaster relief.

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Texas grid operators said on Friday that the electrical system is back to normal.

There were even smaller disruptions on Friday. But Bill Magness, president of the Texas Electric Reliability Council, says the grid has regained enough capacity to power the entire system.

The acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said he is concerned about people staying warm in Texas. With freezing temperatures expected Friday night, Acting Administrator Bob Fenton urged people to go to shelters or heating stations if they still lack heat.

“If you’re cold, don’t stay in your house, go to one of the heating stations,” Fenton said on “CBS This Morning.”

Fenton said his agency was in the state and provided supplies like blankets, fuel, meals, and water.

Fenton encouraged people whose properties had been damaged by bad weather to go through their insurance company first before seeking help from the federal government. Texans can get help from the government when they are president Biden issues a major disaster statement for the state.

Some Texans face surprisingly high electricity bills.

Most residents conclude one of two types of contracts with energy suppliers: a higher fixed rate or variable. With variable, customers take the opportunity and can pay low rates when demand is low and higher rates when demand increases.

Houston resident Meghan O’Neill paid more than $ 2,000 in two days. Her February bill is now over $ 3,000.

“It’s like, okay, do I feed my family or run the heating, which one do I do?” O’Neill said.

Joshua Rhodes, an energy expert at the University of Texas, said flat-rate people could also pay more in the future.

“That effect will last later, you know, assessing utilities and things like that, you know, how much money they need to recoup,” Rhodes said. “… In the end, the customer always pays, you know, a little at the end of this.”

The San Antonio Water System announced on Thursday that it will begin providing water distribution at seven pumping sites across the city. Residents are given a maximum of five liters per person and are advised to boil the water they receive as a precaution.

The City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Food Bank will also distribute bottled water to locations around the city.

San Antonio has faced water outages as a result of the winter emergency, and the San Antonio Water System released a boiling water advisory on Wednesday for customers who still have access to water.

As Americans crave their pre-pandemic lives, coronavirus vaccine distribution is slowing down as winter storms plague the US. The disease has affected not only how Americans live, but how long. Jonathan Vigliotti reports for “CBS Evening News.”

Friday afternoon, 44 deaths were related to the harsh winter weather in seven states.

Most of the deaths were recorded in Texas, with 27 residents dying from storm-related incidents. This is where they occurred: Harris County, including Houston (14), Taylor County (6), Sugarland (4), Galveston County (2), and San Antonio (1).

Earlier this week, a grandmother and three children were killed in a house fire in Sugarland. City officials said the neighborhood had no power. The cause of the fire is being investigated.