Millions of Americans are struggling to survive, unable to stay warm due to severe frosts and power outages for the second day in a row.
A woman and a child died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Houston. A mother and her 8-year-old daughter were pronounced dead after police found them during a health check in a house on La Roche Street. After the power outage, the family put the car in the garage to keep warm, said Lieutenant Larry Crowson, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department. A man and a 7-year-old boy were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
More than 300 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have already been reported in Harris County, and their number is expected to increase.
Hundreds of residents are being treated in hospitals.
One more woman and her three grandchildren were killed in a house fire. The cause of the fire was not determined, but authorities on social networks said that the family used the fireplace to keep warm after electricity went out in their area.
Subfreezing temperatures killed at least 2 people near Houston, Texas. At least 1 was homeless.
150 million in the U.S. are under cold weather warnings. Advocates say homeless people are especially at risk this year because many usual safe places like libraries are closed. pic.twitter.com/AqhREu5uJ6
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 16, 2021
Two homeless people died of hypothermia. A man and a woman, 70 years old, also died as a result of a fire in a house in the city.
Two people were killed in a car accident on ice-covered roads. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, one of the victims, Carol Williams, lost control of her car and called authorities. She got out of her car when another driver failed to stop, hitting her car and hitting Williams. The woman was thrown into the eastern lane of the highway. Then the driver of an unknown black sedan hit her. She died on the spot.
There is a possibility that there are many more deaths and their number will increase, said the judge of the district, Galveston Mark Henry.
A woman and child in Houston died of carbon monoxide poisoning after using a car to keep warm.
The winter storm has killed at least 21 in Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Missouri. Texas cities installed «warming centers» for unhoused people, but some closed after blackouts. pic.twitter.com/tJzdPIG9T2
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 17, 2021
On Wednesday, about 3.4 million consumers were still without electricity in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Vice President Kamala Harris said on NBC that she and Joe Biden are doing «everything possible, signing emergency orders to get federal assistance to support» the weather-affected states.
