![]() ![]() He wore a special vest to detect if his pulse became irregular. Mary, 74, knew that her husband had at least some of these problems. So the retired maintenance worker turned his Dodge Ram around and headed back to the mobile home he’d shared with his wife, Mary, in the small town of Arcola, Texas, for nearly 20 years. As dawn broke on February 15, he made his way to one of his regular dialysis appointments, only to find that the clinic had lost power and was closed. This was the case for 80-year-old Julius Gonzales, his family believes. But without the intense cold and stress they experienced during the crisis, many of these people could still be alive today. Many of the uncounted victims of the storm and power outages were already medically vulnerable - with chronic conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and kidney problems. This astonishing toll exposes the full consequence of officials’ neglect in preventing the power grid’s collapse despite repeated warnings of its vulnerability to cold weather, as well as the state’s failure to reckon with the magnitude of the crisis that followed. But by looking at how many more people died during and immediately after the storm than would have been expected - an established method that has been used to count the full toll of other disasters - we estimate that 700 people were killed by the storm during the week with the worst power outages. The state’s tally currently stands at 151 deaths. A BuzzFeed News data analysis reveals the hidden scale of a catastrophe that trapped millions of people in freezing darkness, cut off access to running water, and overwhelmed emergency services for days. These are specialists, and government has to rely upon on these specialists to be able to deliver in these types of situations."Įpidemiologists investigate the causes of death and their links to the storm, the department said in its update.Īnother update is expected next month before the department issues a final report, Douglas Loveday, a department spokesman, told The New York Times on Wednesday.The true number of people killed by the disastrous winter storm and power outages that devastated Texas in February is likely four or five times what the state has acknowledged so far. and they showed that they were not reliable. Greg Abbott said in an interview on Houston's KTRK-TV in February. "ERCOT stands for Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ![]() "This was a total failure by ERCOT," Gov. Travis County followed with 28 Dallas saw 20.Ī winter storm in mid-February pummeled Texas, leaving millions without power in below-freezing temperatures. Supermarket chains that remained open in past disasters shuttered in the face of power outages and impassable roads.ĮRCOT's June power grid scare: Tiggered by some of same plants that failed in FebruaryĮlectric Reliability Council of Texas has been scrutinized in the wake of the collapse. Harris County, the state's largest county and home to Houston, had the state's highest toll, with 43 deaths. Other deaths across 60 counties were blamed on carbon monoxide poisoning as freezing Texans sought warmth from cars parked in garages, from portable generators kept inside homes and from outdoor grills. “The majority of confirmed deaths were associated with hypothermia,” the department said, and the deaths tallied so far occurred from Feb. The toll, which rose from 151 to 210 deaths, could still change as more deaths are confirmed, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a report. The death toll from the February freeze in Texas and collapse of the statewide electric power grid rose this week as state officials added 59 deaths to the count. Watch Video: Winter weather: Drone footage of Texas cities covered in snow ![]()
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