WASHINGTON (AP) — Deadly weather will be hitting the U.S. more often, and America had better get better at dealing with it, experts said Wednesday as Texas and other states battled winter storms that blew past the worst-case planning of utilities, governments and millions of shivering citizens.
DALLAS (AP) — As many people in the southern U.S. hosted neighbors who had no heat or water during the vicious February storm and deep freeze, Kate Rugroden provided a refuge for shell-shocked bats.
Starving and disoriented, the winged mammals tumbled to the snow-coated ground as temperatures plunged to levels rarely seen in the region.
HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston-area woman whose mother and three children were killed last week during the state's widespread power outages says she hopes to use money from a fundraising campaign to increase awareness about fire safety.
Jackie Nguyen, 41, said that amid frigid conditions she was using a fireplace to keep the family warm in their home in Sugar Land, Texas.
HOUSTON (AP) — A giant vaccination center is opening in Houston to administer 126,000 coronavirus doses in the next three weeks. Nevada health officials are working overtime to distribute delayed shots. And Rhode Island is rescheduling appointments after a vaccine shipment failed to arrive as scheduled earlier in the week.
DALLAS (AP) — The seam that split in a pipe under Nora Espinoza’s sink during the frigid cold that gripped Texas was narrower than the edge of a dime.
Her kitchen appeared mostly undamaged, but the plumber that cut into Espinoza’s wall found water had been pouring in underneath the floor. She expects the repairs to cost $15,000.
The deadly winter storms that have wreaked havoc in large swaths of the country recently can also damage trees and shrubs.
Snow can of course enhance the look of yards and gardens, visually knitting together the plants, fences, even lawn furniture in a sea of white. But it also can bring down branches. Or worse, snap a major limb on a tree or split a bush wide open.
After unusual icy weather left millions of Texans without power, some are facing another crisis: Sky-high electricity bills.
The surge in pricing is hitting people who have chosen to pay wholesale prices for their power, which is typically cheaper than paying fixed rates during good weather, but can spike when there’s high demand for electricity. Many of those who have reported receiving large bills are customers of electricity provider Griddy, which only operates in Texas.
After unusual icy weather left millions of Texans without power, some are facing another crisis: Sky-high electricity bills.
The surge in pricing is hitting people who have chosen to pay wholesale prices for their power, which is typically cheaper than paying fixed rates during good weather, but can spike when there’s high demand for electricity. Many of those who have reported receiving large bills are customers of electricity provider Griddy, which only operates in Texas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It sounded so ambitious at first blush: 100 million vaccination shots in 100 days.
HOUSTON (AP) — Hospitals across the South grappled with water shortages Sunday in the wake of a devastating winter storm as the region carried on with recovery efforts and the weather offered a balmy respite — temperatures as high as the mid-60s.
DALLAS (AP) — With the snow and ice clearing in Texas after days of unusually cold temperatures, bodies are being found of people who likely froze to death as they struggled to stay warm after electricity was cut to millions of homes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Add Mother Nature to the pile of crises on President Joe Biden's plate.
A month into the job and focused on the coronavirus, Biden is seeing his disaster management skills tested after winter storms plunged Texas, Oklahoma and neighboring states into an unusual deep freeze that left millions shivering in homes that lost heat and power, and in many homes, water.
At least 69 deaths across the U.S. have been blamed on the blast of unseasonable weather.
NEW YORK (AP) — Efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19 have been stymied by a series of winter storms and outages that have hobbled transportation hubs and highways in parts of the country not used to extreme cold weather.
This week’s killer freeze in the U.S. was no surprise.
Government and private meteorologists saw it coming, some nearly three weeks in advance. They started sounding warnings two weeks ahead of time. They talked to officials. They issued blunt warnings through social media.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As frozen Texas reels under one of the worst electricity outages in U.S. history, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has blamed grid operators and iced-over wind turbines but gone easier on another culprit: an oil and gas industry that is the state's dominant business and his biggest political contributor.
PORTAGE, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden toured a state-of-the art coronavirus vaccine plant Friday, intent on showcasing progress even as extreme winter weather across the U.S. handed his vaccination campaign its first major setback, delaying shipment of about 6 million doses and causing temporary closures of inoculation sites in many communities.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As frozen Texas reels under one of the worst electricity outages in U.S. history, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has blamed grid operators and iced-over wind turbines but gone easier on another culprit: an oil and gas industry that is the state's dominant business and his biggest political contributor.
Hotel rooms for $1,000 a night. Gasoline prices spiking. Even bottled water prices doubling or tripling overnight.
Officials in Texas say the winter storm that knocked out power and water to millions of residents is providing an opportunity for some unscrupulous merchants to take advantage of the situation by charging exorbitant prices for essential supplies.
The NBA's Mavericks and NHL's Stars in Dallas have had another game each called off because of severe winter weather in Texas, with one of the postponements coming in Houston.
The Rockets' home game against the Mavericks scheduled for Friday was postponed along with a meeting in Dallas between the Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning set for Saturday as the Lone Star State deals with frigid temperatures, power outages and issues with water supplies.
Power has been restored to more Texans, with fewer than half a million homes still without electricity. But many people were still without safe drinking water after winter storms wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid and utilities this week.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 7 million people have been ordered to boil their water before consuming it, following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes.
The Latest on winter weather across the U.S. (all times local):
JACKSON, Miss. — Almost all of Jackson, a city of around 150,000 people, is now without water, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said.
Lumumba said public works crews are working to pump as much water as they can to refill the city’s tanks. The city is approaching a critical shortage in chemicals used to treat the city’s water, the mayor said. Road closures are making it difficult for distributors to make needed deliveries.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Patrick Reed birdied his first three holes and finished with a bogey-free 8-under 64 on Thursday for a share of the lead with Alex Noren after the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
Reed, Noren and Scottie Scheffler — who was one stroke back — all played Torrey Pines' easier North Course and will play the South Course on what could be a wet Friday. Heavy rain was forecast for overnight and into the second round at the municipal course overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deadly weather will be hitting the U.S. more often, and America needs to get better at dealing with it, experts said as Texas and other states battled winter storms that blew past the worst-case planning of utilities, governments and millions of shivering residents.
The icy blast across much of the U.S. injected more confusion and frustration into the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination drive Wednesday just when it was gathering speed, snarling vaccine deliveries and forcing the cancellation of countless shots around the country.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Music blared from the courtyard of a French Quarter restaurant on Mardi Gras morning but nobody was there to hear it until Tom Gibson and Sheila Wheeler of Philadelphia walked out of their hotel’s nearly empty lobby.
“We were expecting a little bit lower key than the normal Mardi Gras,” Wheeler said. But empty Bourbon Street was a shock.
DALLAS (AP) — The power outages tormenting Texas in uncharacteristically Arctic temperatures are exposing weaknesses in an electricity system designed when the weather's seasonal shifts were more consistent and predictable — conditions that most experts believe no longer exist.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Millions of Americans endured another frigid day without electricity or heat in the aftermath of a deadly winter storm as utility crews raced to restore power before another blast of snow and ice sowed more chaos in places least equipped to deal with it.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — Residents, some of whom lack heat or basic amenities in their own homes due to the unusually chilly weather, have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles and taking them to a convention center in a South Texas resort town.
It’s as if the world has been turned upside-down, or at least its weather. You can blame the increasingly familiar polar vortex, which has brought a taste of the Arctic to places where winter often requires no more than a jacket.
The Latest on winter weather across the U.S. (all times local):
AUSTIN — Leaders in Austin and the Houston area are asking residents to stop dripping water from their faucets because of a drop in water pressure.
DALLAS (AP) — The wintry weather blast in Texas and Oklahoma has led to another postponement for the Dallas Stars while adding to the list of Top 25 college basketball games now on hold.
The Stars' game against Tampa Bay scheduled for Thursday was called off along with Southeastern Conference and Big 12 men's basketball games that had been moved to that day because of issues with frigid temperatures and icy conditions for travel.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anger over Texas' power grid failing in the face of a record winter freeze mounted Tuesday as millions of residents in the energy capital of the U.S. remained shivering with no assurances that their electricity and heat — out for 36 hours or longer in many homes — would return soon or stay on once it finally does.
DALLAS (AP) — The wintry blast causing misery across Texas has prompted the postponement of an NBA game in Dallas, a second consecutive NHL game and disrupted the college basketball schedule for a number of teams.
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars postponed a second consecutive game against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday after further consultation with city officials over widespread power outages attributed to extreme winter weather.
The club made the latest decision almost 12 hours before the scheduled game, as opposed to the Monday night postponement that was announced less than an hour before puck drop.
OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) — It was late Monday night when the power went out at Jesse Clemmons' home in coastal North Carolina. He went outside to start up the generator and heard a loud roar approaching from the woods.
“By that time, I pretty much knew what was going on,” Clemmons said.
He ran back inside, grabbed his son, told his wife to get their daughter, and the four huddled inside a closet as a monster EF3 tornado barreled their way.
The Latest on winter weather across the U.S. (all times local):
WASHINGTON— President Joe Biden offered his administration’s assistance Tuesday in a call with at least seven governors of states impacted by severe winter weather this week.
The White House says Biden told governors that he and his wife are praying for their citizens and pledged to deploy federal emergency resources as needed.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Heavy snowfall blanketed the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens, caused power cuts and halted COVID-19 vaccinations in the Greek capital on Tuesday as the weather brought many services across the country to a standstill.
OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) — A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives Tuesday, including three people found dead after a tornado hit a seaside town in North Carolina and four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A sprawling blast of winter weather across the U.S. is likely to blame for the deaths of two people in Texas, where an unusually snowy emergency Monday knocked out power for more than four million people, shut down grocery stores and air travel and closed schools ahead of frigid days still to come.