Volunteers prepare to load crates of water into waiting cars at Del Mar Stadium in Houston, Texas, Feb. 19, 2021.
The south-central United States has been hit by an intense snowstorm that has claimed at least 70 lives, including people who were unable to heat their homes. After millions of people were cut off from electricity, they are now stuck with frozen water pipes bursting due to low temperatures, a lack of clean drinking water, and hospitals struggling to maintain sanitary conditions.
Central News Agency reported that Texas is the 2nd largest state after California in terms of population. The Associated Press reported that as many as 7 million people, equivalent to 1/4 of the population of Texas, are required to boil tap water before drinking, because the low water pressure may lead to bacteria seeping into the pipeline through the gap. A man died in a hospital in Abilene, Texas, after water pressure was too low to provide normal treatment.
In Memphis (Memphis), Tennessee’s largest county, about 260,000 homes and businesses were told that drinking water must be boiled because of a broken main water line at a pumping station and related problems; restaurants must close if they cannot boil water or lack bottled water.
Water pressure problems also necessitated the cancellation of all flights at Memphis International Airport on the 19th.
Houston Public Works workers prepare to load cases of water into waiting cars during a mass water distribution event at Del Mar Stadium on Feb. 19, 2021, in Houston, Texas.
Chokwe Antar Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, said most of the approximately 161,000 citizens are without running water, with crews pumping water to fill water towers but lacking the chemicals to disinfect it because icy roads prevent suppliers from distributing it.
The city of Jackson’s main water main is more than 100 years old and was not expected to respond to such low temperatures when it was first built, Lummerbeck said. Recent snowstorms have dropped record amounts of snow in the southern U.S. states.
The city of Jackson has water for residents to drink and flush toilets, but they must fetch their own, which is dangerous for the elderly and residents who live near icy roads.
Volunteers prepare to load crates of water into waiting cars at Del Mar Stadium in Houston, Texas, Feb. 19, 2021.
Lisa Thomas, a Jackson citizen, said her driveway on the knoll was iced over, her husband had a pacemaker and had heart medication on hand until the 21st, and she couldn’t get to the pharmacy. “People here really need help urgently,” she said.
Another resident, Paul Lee Davis, waited in line at a water station set up by the city, but by the Time it was his turn, there was no water left and he waited for 3 1/2 hours without getting it.
He said, “We need water, the stores are out, I don’t know what other options we have.”
Following days of lack of heat and power, the lack of water is the latest tragedy facing local residents. The ice storm that hit earlier this week caused massive power outages from Minnesota to Texas.
The extreme weather claimed at least 70 lives, including people who were unable to heat their homes and a Tennessee farmer who died trying to save two calves that had strayed into an icy pond.
An aerial view from a drone shows power lines running through a neighborhood in Austin, Texas, Feb. 19, 2021.
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