Two people, including a child, were found dead Tuesday due to carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was used to generate heat in a Houston home hit by a rare winter storm.
Houston officials and firefighters responded to a call to locate two adults and two children suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, police said. A woman and a girl did not survive, while a man and a boy were rushed to a hospital for treatment. The names of the victims were not disclosed.
“Initial indications are that cars were running in the attached garage to create heat as the power went down. Cars, grids and generators should not be used in or near a building,” the department said in a statement.
A deadly winter storm that stormed the country’s southern and central parts left more than 4 million people without power in Texas as record low temperatures overwhelmed the state’s electrical network.
The areas hardest hit by power outages were around Galveston and Houston, according to Poweroutage.us.
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The Houston Chronicle, meanwhile, had to stop producing its print edition after the plant lost power at 2 p.m. In a note to subscribers, the newspaper said it had not even happened when the city was hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Abilene, a city of about 170,000 residents, has shut down its water services due to power outages at all three of its water treatment plants, officials tweeted. And in an effort to save power, the Dallas skyline has darkened.
At least 25 people have died in weather-related deaths so far this weekend, the majority in Texas.
