By Isabelle Baldwin for Dailymail.Com 05:27 08 February 2024, Updated 06:19 08 February 2024 Share or comment on this article: San Francisco 49ers star
Stranded without power, a resident walks along a snow-covered road in Austin, Texas, Feb. 16, 2021. A failed attempt to provide rotating blackouts during Texas historic winter storm left at least nearly 200,000 people without power in single-digits temperatures from the early hours of Feb. 14. (CNS/Isabelle Baldwin)
As families continue to suffer the effects of the winter storm that ravaged Texas and its energy grid two months ago, faith leaders across the state have vowed to hold lawmakers to pass legislation quickly to weatherize the power grid and provide financial relief for repairs. This was man-made not the weather, but the response. Congregants, schools, homeowners, renters were all affected, said Jacqueline Hailey, a minister at New Hope Baptist Church, in Houston, during a press conference April 12. This is still affecting us. We are not going to forget, and we want to ensure that this will never happen again.
A homeless encampment is pictured under a highway overpass Feb. 16, 2020, during a winter storm in Austin, Texas. Austin planned to operate over a dozen warming shelters around the clock for the city s vulnerable population until the historic cold outbreak ended. (CNS/Isabelle Baldwin)
Houston While snow and ice turned Texas into a winter wonderland, inside homes the February winter storm was devastating, especially in underserved communities, where millions of Texans struggled to survive in freezing temperatures, without power, heat or water.
The current death toll is 58, according to news reports, but that number is likely to increase in the coming weeks. Some people died from accidents driving on icy roads, while at least two died of carbon monoxide poisoning trying to stay warm, and there were 160 reports of other health effects due to potential carbon monoxide exposure, according to Texas health officials.