Millions under winter weather alerts as Texas faces water crisis

Hospitals in Texas are grappling with a series of issues, including water, staffing and supply chain disruptions, due to severe winter weather across the state, Carrie Williams, spokesperson for the Texas Hospital Association, said in a statement Friday.

Many hospitals don't have running water or are facing low water pressure or pipes have burst, according to the statement. The hospitals are also under boil-water notices.

Williams said that there are also issues with staffing as some staff have had to stay on site in order to care for patients, putting a strain on food, linens and water.

There are also issues with supplies and medication stocks running low, although there are some supply trucks moving today, Williams said.

Covid-19 vaccinations have been delayed across many hospitals and public health partners due to weather and shipping delays.

Patients who were discharged have stayed in hospital lobbies because they either don't have transportation to return home or can't return home due to power outages, according to Williams. 

There is also a delay in trash pickup due to vendor issues, Williams said.

Williams said that while there are challenges related to dialysis services and plasma/platelet supplies, the hospital association doesn't have more specific details on those issues.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he's still waiting for President Biden to sign a federal disaster declaration for the state.

He said Biden called him Thursday to tell him he was going to approve the major disaster declaration.

“We're still awaiting word about confirmation of what President Biden told us last night,” Abbott said. “What this approval will do is it will give Texans the ability to apply for individual assistance from FEMA, which will then provide them with funding to help fix damages to their homes that are not covered by private insurance.”

Biden said he spoken with Abbott on Thursday night. The President said he would ask acting-Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Bob Fenton on Friday afternoon to accelerate its response to the request from Abbott for a major disaster declaration. Biden already approved an emergency declaration for the state over the weekend, but the major disaster declaration would allow FEMA to provide more resources and assistance.

The Democratic mayor of Houston, the fourth largest city in the nation, says he still has not spoken with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, even as a boil-water notice remains in effect for the city's 2.3 million residents and thousands remain without power. 

"I have not spoken to him," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "I have had several conversations with the Biden administration. Several of them. So I have had those conversations but I've not had an opportunity to speak with the governor."

Regardless of Abbott's silence so far, Turner said he remained willing and ready to work with the administration to solve the region's water and power issues.

"I think the people in the state, the people in our respective cities and counties want us all to work together," he said. "I stand ready to work with the governor, with our state legislators to make sure that this situation never happens again. This was an avoidable situation." 

More than 14.9 million people have been impacted by disruptions across more than 1,300 public water systems, Tiffany Young, spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, told CNN in an email Friday evening.

Water systems in 159 counties have also been impacted in Texas, Young said.

Some hospitals have been operating without water service. As of Thursday afternoon, that included Houston Methodist West and Houston Methodist Baytown hospitals, said hospital system representative Gale Smith.

"They have been creative, from trucking water in for consumption to collecting rainwater to use for flushing toilets," Smith said. Both facilities, Smith said, were "still effectively caring for our patients."

In Austin alone, the state capital's water supply lost 325 million gallons due to burst pipes, Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros said during a news conference Thursday.

In Houston, the fire department received almost 5,000 reports of broken pipes, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Friday at a water distribution event.

“For those still without power, we want them to know that local providers are working around the clock to restore electricity,” the governor said.

Abbott reiterated that there are no longer any residential power outages due to the lack of power generation but may persist as the result of downed power lines or the need for the power company to manually reconnect the residence to the power system.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told CNN today that the state's power grid, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), is an agency of the state, and that it cannot be the scapegoat for lack of leadership from state elected officials.

Turner was a state legislator in 1999 when energy was deregulated in the state, introducing retail competition to the electricity market. 

When asked whether Turner now has second thoughts on that, he said he thought it was the right decision, but also recognized the need for greater oversight over ERCOT.

Turner explained that he introduced a bill in 2011 that would have mandated ERCOT have enough energy capacity to prevent blackouts, but said the bill never got a hearing.

“If that bill had been put into place in 2011, we would not be put in this situation now,” Turner said at an event to distribute bottled water to Houston residents. “The deregulation is not the problem. It’s what happened after the fact. And that is, the system was engineered, designed more to benefit the generators than the customers and the people themselves."

"It was designed for summer heat, not for winter storms,” he added.

Asked whether ERCOT should be part of the national grid, Turner said that the closed system in Texas is archaic and needs to be upgraded.

In reaction to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s trip to Cancun, Turner said, “It’s good to have him back."

Turner continued: "People who are fighting to stay warm, taking care of their families, looking for a way to move forward, if nothing else, they expect their leaders to be where they are, to remain on the ship and not to abandon the ship so you can have some comfort.”

The mayor added that this has been a difficult week amid a difficult year. 

"This has been a hard week, ok? I’ve dealt with Harvey, I’ve dealt with social civil unrest, the coronavirus for almost a year, and now dealing this week. This has been a hard week," he said.

Much of the state is still dealing with near-freezing temperatures and officials are warning some lingering power outages could drag on for days.

• More than 14.6 million people are facing water disruptions, many with notices to boil their water, broken pipes and failing systems amid the frigid cold and power outages, state officials said. Major cities including Houston, Austin and San Antonio have issued boil water notices to their millions of residents.
• As of 3:30 p.m. ET, more than 170,000 customers remained without power in Texas, per PowerOutrages.us. In some locations, residents have been without power for several days.
• Millions of homes have had their power restored since the peak of the outages and nearly 300 warming centers have been opened across the state. For the first time in more than four days, the energy emergency that caused millions of Texans to lose power and sparked a water crisis has ended, the state’s grid operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), announced.
• At least 50 confirmed deaths and nine suspected others have been reported across nine states, the majority in Texas, as a result of the brutal cold weather and winter storms impacting the US, including in carbon monoxide related incidents. 
• The governor said most of the state north of Interstate 10 is forecast to experience below freezing temperatures until Saturday.
• In Houston, the nation's fourth largest city, officials have issued a boil water notice due to its 2.3 million residents due to very low water pressure and officials are asking the community to help keep water pressure up for hospitals and first responders. The county judge warned residents to buckle up for the possibility of a few more days without power. Officials say there are now 10 hypothermia deaths in Harris County, home to Houston, more than 600 carbon monoxide cases and counting. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, meanwhile, said Friday, "I have not talked to the governor at any time during this crisis."
• A mass water distribution site opened at Houston’s Delmar Stadium today as millions across the area remain under boil water notices.
• President Biden said he plans on traveling to Texas next week, with the caveat that he would only do so if his visit doesn't further burden the state.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said that she spoke with the White House yesterday and requested additional resources to respond to the weather damage in her area, including direct individual assistance to help those impacted by the weather emergency.

Hidalgo said during a virtual call with other county officials that she has requested a 100% reimbursement rather than 75% reimbursement because they are already overburdened because of Covid-19.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

While power outages have mostly been restored, the county continues to deal with water and food issues, Hidalgo said.

She asked all residents to assume they are under a boil water advisory unless they know otherwise.

It should be a few days before water issues are resolved, Hidalgo said, noting that some of the damage to pipes hasn't yet been identified and there is another cold night forecasted for tonight. 

Once all leaks are identified and pressure is restored to the system, bacterial sampling will still need to be done to lift boil water advisories, Hidalgo explained.

One district has begun using their potable water trucks that they would normally use for projects such as sink hole work and watering down roads to provide residents with non-drinking water to flush toilets and conserve the drinking water they do have, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner R. Jack Cagle said during the call.

Cagle and Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey both said they are planning to reopen parks to give people a place to go outside of their homes. Ramsey also said that he was opening community centers so people can access WiFi if needed.

Food availability has also been an issue because grocery stores lost power and food delivery trucks were unable to deliver shipments due to the roads, according to Hidalgo.

She said major grocery stores expect to be caught up with supplies this weekend.

Hidalgo reminded residents not to hoard food and only buy what they need for their families.

An additional 281,373 customers are without power in Mississippi, Oregon, Louisiana, and Kentucky. 

Here's a look at the top areas with outages:

• Texas - 179,316
• Mississippi - 95,173
• Oregon - 69,864
• Louisiana - 62,907
• Kentucky - 53,429