WORLD NEWS
TEXAS OuTAGES Picture this Millions of homes without power, gas or electricity. 18 degree Celsius weather, with no heating or hot water. Struggling to survive in your own home. This has been the reality for Texas over the last few days, following a winter storm which left millions without power, and taking at least 21 lives. The widespread blackouts occurred when the energy grid became overwhelmed by the increased usage since the extreme weather conditions began. Millions of people in the state of Texas, who rarely experience such drastic temperature drops, have struggled to cope with the lack of power and frosty conditions. Deaths caused by the storm have been recorded in Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and Missouri. The National Weather Service (NWS) announced that the worst of the storm has already moved through Texas, and although the extreme weather conditions are said to improve by next week, more than 100 million Americans are still under a winter weather warning. Even some Northern and Central parts of Mexico have been impacted by the frigid weather conditions, where millions of homes have experienced days of intermittent power outages. "I'm in Houston, Texas freezing to death," one Twitter user, Chris Prince, wrote. "No power, no heat, no water. I have four young children. How is this happening right now?" Another user, Josh Morgerman, wrote that a friend in Texas had resorted to "burning furniture in the fireplace" to stay warm. The Senior Director of Ercot - the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, spoke to CNN on Wednesday, and confirmed that the outages can last a few days for Texans. Written by Paula Rapsiewicz ubE-3
