Texas power outage

Texas was thrown into crisis this past week as strong winter temperatures caused multiple power outages for several days. Other states were also affected by these weather conditions and outages, but the effects have been more severe in Texas. 

These outages were primarily caused by the failure of power plants, primarily in natural gas. Some gas pipelines were frozen, and as people turned up the heat in their homes, demand for gas increased, resulting in high gas prices leading to some power plants going offline. 

The power outages also led to water complexities due to failing water treatment plants and burst pipes within peoples’ homes. Homes affected by the failing water treatment plants were told to boil their water, while homes with burst pipes didn’t have access to running water and therefore had to seek other means to get water.

Currently, at least 58 people have died from the winter storms. For resources to help people that have been impacted, click here.