OCEAN ISLE BEACH, NC (AP) – A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives, including three people who were found dead after a tornado hit a coastal town in North Carolina and four family members living in a nearby Houston home while using a fireplace to stay warm.
The storm which overwhelmed the power grids and immobilized the Southern Plains brought heavy snow and freezing rain to New England and the deep south on Tuesday, leaving painfully low temperatures behind. Cold warnings have spread from Canada to Mexico.
In total, at least 20 deaths were reported. Other causes included car accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning. The weather also threatened to affect the country’s COVID-19 vaccination effort. President Joe Biden’s administration has said vaccination and delivery delays are likely.
Brunswick County in North Carolina took little notice of the dangerous weather, and a tornado warning was only issued before the storm was already on the ground.
The National Weather Service was “very surprised at how quickly this storm increased … and at the time of night when most people are home and in bed, it creates a very dangerous situation,” said Ed Conrow, director of the emergency services, said.
In Chicago, one and a half meters (46 centimeters) of snow forced new public schools to cancel personal lessons for Tuesday. Along the normal gentle Gulf of Mexico, cross-country skier Sam Fagg hit fresh powder on the beach in Galveston, Texas.
The worst US power outages were in Texas, affecting more than 2 million homes and businesses. More than 250,000 people also lost power across parts of Appalachia, and another 200,000 were without electricity after an ice storm in northwestern Oregon, according to poweroutage.us, which detects reports of power outages. Four million people lost power in Mexico.
Texas officials have requested 60 federal Emergency Management Agency generators and plan to prioritize hospitals and nursing homes. The state has opened 35 shelters for more than 1,000 residents, the agency said.
More than 500 people sought solace in one shelter in Houston. Mayor Sylvester Turner said other heating centers were closed because they lost power.
After Natalie Harrell lost power Monday, she, her boyfriend and four children sheltered at a Gallery Furniture store in Houston. The heating center in the store provided people with food, water and power to charge essential electronics.
“It’s worse than a hurricane,” Harrell said. “I think we’re going to be without days for more days, that’s what it looks like.”
Utility programs from Minnesota to Texas have implemented rolling power outages to ease the burden on power grids to meet the extreme demand for heat and electricity.
Recreation that lasted more than an hour began around dawn on Tuesday for Oklahoma City and more than a dozen other communities, shutting down electric-powered space heaters, ovens and lights, as well as temperatures about 8 degrees (minus 22 degrees Celsius) turned.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric withdrew plans for more power outages, but urged users to set thermostats at 20 degrees Celsius, avoid using large electrical appliances and turn off lights or appliances that are not in use.
Entergy, however, began cracking down on Tuesday night in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Southeast Texas, under the leadership of its network manager, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, “as a last resort and to prevent more extensive, prolonged power outages that could seriously prevent the affect the reliability of the power grid, ”according to a statement of the New Orleans-based utility.
“Due to extremely cold temperatures over the past few days, the demand for electricity has reached an all-time high,” Entergy said in a statement. ‘On top of that, these weather conditions have forced generational resources throughout the system. Implementing this load in the Entergy region will help ensure an adequate reserve margin, ensuring that Entergy can be better positioned this week through extra weather. “
Entergy has nearly 3 million electrical customers in the four states.
Nebraska’s interruptions recorded amid the coldest weather: in Omaha, overnight temperatures dropped 23 degrees below zero (minus 30 degrees Celsius), the coldest in 25 years.
The Southwest Power Pool, a group of electricity services covering 14 countries, said the eclipses were a last resort to preserve the reliability of the electrical system as a whole. ‘
The outages forced a Texas province to administer more than 8,000 doses of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine after a public health agency lost power early Monday and its backup generator failed, said Judge Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the judge. Lina Hidalgo in Harris County.
Provincial officials distributed the doses that could spoil in three hospitals, Rice University and the county jail, because there were large groups of people available who did not have to drive and that there were appropriate medical staff.
“It feels incredible. I’m very grateful, ”said Harry Golen, a high school student who waited almost four hours with his friends, much of it in the cold, and was one of the last people to take the shots, who otherwise would not reach students. it until March or April.
Texas officials said more than 400,000 doses now payable will arrive at least Wednesday due to the storm.
The tornado that hit Brunswick Province in North Carolina was an EF3 with winds estimated at 257 km / h, the weather service said on Twitter.
Three people were killed and ten injured when the tornado tore through a golf course community and another rural area just before midnight Monday, destroying dozens of homes.
Sharon Benson, 63, said her roof was damaged and her garage door was blown down. Windows were smashed and trees in the area were uprooted.
“The air went up and there was a lot of pop-pop bang” and thunder, she said.
Authorities in several states have reported deaths in accidents on icy roads, including two people whose vehicle slipped off a road Sunday and overturned in a waterway in Kentucky, police said. A Mississippi man has died after losing control of his vehicle, which overturned on an icy road near Starkville on Monday night, Michael Hunt, a coroner in Oktibbeha district, said on Tuesday.
In Texas, three young children and their grandmother died in the Houston area, which probably started while using a fireplace to stay warm during a power outage, a firefighter said. And in Oregon, authorities confirmed Tuesday that four people died in the Portland metropolis last weekend from carbon monoxide poisoning.
At least 13 children have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, the hospital said in a message on social media, warning that families will “take extreme measures to heat their homes” – with propane or diesel combustion. engines and generators, gas stoves and stoves. One parent died from the toxic fumes, pediatrician Phillip Scott told Fort Worth television station KTVT.
Other deaths in Texas include a woman and a girl who died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in Houston in a house without electricity from a car that ran into an attached garage, and two men who were driving along the roads in the area. of Houston were found dead in freezing temperatures, enforcement officials said.
In western Tennessee, a 10-year-old boy died after falling into an ice-covered pond during a winter storm on Sunday.
Several cities had record lows: in Minnesota, the Hibbing / Chisholm weather station registered minus 38 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 39 degrees Celsius). Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dropped to minus 26 Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius).
By noon, more than 2,700 U.S. flights had been canceled, led by more than 800 at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and more than 700 at Bush Intercontinental in Houston.
Authorities called on residents to stay home Tuesday. About 100 school systems have closed, delayed opening or switched to remote classes in Alabama, where forecasters said conditions may not improve until temperatures rise to freezing on Wednesday afternoon.
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Associated Press staff in the United States contributed to this report.