AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Southern cities hit by winter storms that left millions without power for days, one crisis swapped for another: breast water pipes broken by record low temperatures caused shortages of clean drinking water, closed Memphis airport and hospitals struggled to maintain sanitation.
In Texas, 7 million people – a quarter of the nation’s second largest state – were ordered to boil tap water before drinking it because low water pressure could cause bacteria to seep into the system. A man has died in a health ward in Abilene when a lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible.
About 260,000 homes and businesses in the province of Tennessee, which includes Memphis, have been told to boil water due to water breaks and problems with the pumping station. Restaurants that cannot do this or that do not have bottled water have been ordered to close. And water pressure problems have forced Memphis International Airport to cancel all incoming and outgoing Friday flights.
In Jackson, Mississippi, most of the city of about 161,000 had no running water. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said mayors pumped water to refill the city’s tanks, but had a shortage of chemicals for treatment because icy roads made it difficult for distributors.
He said the water mains in the city are more than 100 years old and not built to handle the icy weather that hit the city as many storms spilled record amounts of snow across the South.
“We have a huge challenge getting more water through our distribution system,” Lumumba said.
The city provided water to flush and drink toilets, but the residents had to pick it up and leave the elderly and those living on icy roads vulnerable.
Lisa Thomas said her driveway on a hill in Jackson was an ice sheet. Her husband, who is on a defibrillator and heart monitor, has just enough heart medication to get him until Sunday because she could not go to the pharmacy.
“People have a serious need here,” Thomas said.
Paul Lee Davis came to the front of the queue at a water station set up by city officials to run out of water. He was still waiting for it to be replenished three and a half hours after he arrived.
‘We need water, the shops are all outside. I do not see what choice we have, “said Davis.
The misery for the water was the latest misery for people in the South who went through days without heat or electricity after the ice and snowstorms earlier in the week, forcing compelling suspects from Minnesota to Texas.
Electricity network operators in Texas have said that electricity transmission is back to normal for the first time since historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures have increased the demand for electricity to heat the home.
Minor outages remained, but Bill Magness, president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said the network could now supply power throughout the system.
Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered an investigation into the failure for a state known as the U.S. Energy Capital. ERCOT officials defended their preparations and the decision to start forced interruptions on Monday as the network reached a breaking point.
The storms also left more than 330,000 people from Virginia to Louisiana without power. About 60,000 people in Oregon continued to experience a week-long interruption on Friday after a huge ice and snow storm. The governor of Oregon ordered the national guard to go door-to-door in the areas hardest hit to ensure residents have enough food and water.
Extreme weather was blamed for the deaths of at least 69 people, including many who died struggling to warm up, and a farmer from Tennessee who tried to rescue two calves that had apparently wandered around on a frozen pond.
Acting Administrator Bob Fenton, federal emergency management agency, said teams in Texas distribute fuel, water, blankets and other supplies.
“What worries me the most is making sure people stay warm,” Fenton said on CBS This Morning.
In many areas, water pressure dropped after lines froze and because people had taps dripped to prevent pipes from icing, authorities said.
According to Friday afternoon Tiffany Young, spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, more than 1,300 public water systems in Texas and 159 provinces reported weather-related disruptions that affected more than 14.9 million people.
More than 1 million gallons (3.8 million gallons) of water are being transported to the Texas capital on Friday. But Austin’s water director Greg Maszaros has begged residents to keep the use of home appliances to a minimum, because ‘there are still many unknowns if we put the system under pressure.’
In Dallas, David Lopez said the plumbing business he works for has received more than 600 calls for service in the past week.
“It’s almost the first time, the first time,” Lopez said as he and a colleague handled a new boiler from their van on Friday. “Everyone has emergencies.”
Houston residents will likely have to boil tap water in the fourth-largest U.S. city until Sunday or Monday, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
The water service was restored Friday at two Houston Methodist community hospitals, but officials still brought in drinking water and some elective surgeries were canceled, spokeswoman Gale Smith said.
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis said it was forced to switch to bottled water and ice for all consumption, and that staff and patients were washing with the hand sanitizer and bath towels that had not been rinsed. All non-urgent operations have been postponed.
Central Arkansas Water in the Little Rock area has asked customers to save water to protect the system as the ground begins to heat up and thaw pipes. The city of Hot Springs warned Thursday night that the water supply was “critically low” and also asked customers to save.
In Little Rock, the Museum of Discovery reported that a broken pipe flooded its building, causing extensive damage to theaters, galleries and offices and killing one exhibit animal, a bluetongue lizard.
More than 192,000 Louisiana residents – some still struggling to recover from Hurricane Laura in August – had no water service on Friday, according to the Department of Health. Tens of thousands of others remained under boiling water advice.
Bulk and bottled water deliveries are planned Friday for the hardest-hit Louisiana areas, with a focus on hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis centers, Louisiana Gov. Louis Bel Edwards said, adding he is hopeful that warmer weather is expected over the weekend , will speed up. repairwork.
In the Louisiana community of Hackberry, Nicole Beard said her boyfriend crawled under his house to try to fix a broken water pipe, but could not because he did not have the right parts and it was too dark. She used bottled water and sent her two daughters to stay at another house.
“People are still struggling here,” she said.
___
Acacia Coronado is a member of the Corps for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to cover covert issues.
___
Sainz reports from Memphis. Associated Press journalist Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Rebecca Santana in New Orleans; Gillian Flaccus in Portland; Jake Bleiberg in Dallas; Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; Leah Willingham in Jackson, Mississippi; Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Michael Warren in Atlanta; and Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, contributed.
___
The story has been corrected to show that at least 69 people died, not at least 70.