Our live coverage of the storm has ended, but you can track the snow and ice here.
The NHL has announced that Monday night’s game between the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators has been postponed because of the weather-related state of emergency that remains in effect in Dallas.
The league said a makeup date will be announced as soon as it can be confirmed.
Monday’s game was originally scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. local time in Dallas.
The Houston Chronicle informed subscribers that it doesn’t expect to be able to produce a printed newspaper for Tuesday.
The newspaper has been without power since 2 a.m., according to a notice to subscribers Monday.
“We’ll decide on whether to print a newspaper for Tuesday if and when power is restored, and when we can determine if it can be safely delivered,” the notice added.
Houston Chronicle news updates will continue to be posted online at HoustonChronicle.com, and Tuesday’s newspaper will be released as an eNewspaper, the notice said.
Harris County, Texas, officials painted a bleak picture of what the upcoming days could look like for the heavily populated region at a news conference Monday.
“I know you are frustrated. I know you’re miserable. I know you’re uncomfortable,” she continued. “I can tell you that the families of many of the first responders who are here keeping you safe, who’ve been here all week, since last week are also without power in their homes.”
Approximately one million homes and businesses in Harris County are without power, Hidalgo said.
“As much as we wish it weren’t so, things will likely get worse before they get better,” she continued. “There’s a high chance, the power will be out for these folks until the weather gets better, which will not be for a couple of days.”
Jason Ryan, senior vice president of Regulatory Services and Government Affairs at CenterPoint Energy, echoed Hidalgo’s stark forecast.
Ryan also tried to explain why so many CenterPoint customers have lost power during the storm. “Starting this morning at about 1:30, the state of Texas experienced an unprecedented and significant drop in available electric generation throughout the state, and not just in the Houston area,” he said.
“When that happens, ERCOT [the Electric Reliability Council of Texas] instructs us to address that loss of generation by reducing the number of customers on the system. We started doing that and over the course of a number of hours early this morning.”
“We ended up having more than 1.2 million customers out of power because of that lack of generation,” Ryan said.
More than 8,400 coronavirus vaccines were in jeopardy of spoiling early Monday when a winter storm cut power to the Harris County Public Health Department building and the backup generator failed, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo said when the health department’s back-up generator failed at approximately 2 a.m. Monday, officials quickly put a plan together to allocate and salvage the vaccines.
“We were looking for places where there were already large numbers of people, where there were nurses, trained medical professionals who could administer the vaccine, and where we wouldn’t need folks to drive somewhere in these very dangerous weather and road conditions,” she said.
Harris County officials settled on Houston’s Ben Taub, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Methodist Hospitals, as well as Rice University and the Harris County Jail as the locations to receive the vaccine overnight, Hidalgo said.
Of the 8,430 vaccines taken from the Harris County Public Health Department, 1,000 were sent to Methodist Hospital, and 810 to Rice University, Hidalgo said. Another 600 vaccines were split between LBJ and Ben Taub Hospitals and 3,000 were sent to the Harris County Jail.
Hidalgo said 3,020 vaccines have gone back into storage based on guidance from Moderna.
“The vaccine supply, we thought we were going to lose in a few hours, we could actually re-refrigerate and administer later to our waitlist,” she said. “Over 5,000 of the vaccines have been distributed and the rest have been put back in storage for distribution per our normal process.”
Hidalgo was asked if she expected to receive criticism for allocating so many vaccines to the jail.
“Whether it’s a hospital, whether it’s the jail, public health, fire marshal, everybody that put this together, it is incredible, that they were able to get those vaccines, and we were able to figure out from Moderna, how to save the ones that we were concerned we may not be able to distribute,” Hidalgo said. “It’s a point of pride that this was figured out that it was dealt with, and it should be a point of pride to our partners from Rice to the hospitals or to the sheriff’s department that helped stand up and get this done.”
Chicago Public Schools has canceled all in-person classes Tuesday due to “significant snowfall,” according to a release from the district.
The school district said it expects to hold in-person classes Wednesday.
Earlier today, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed confidence in her team’s preparations as the storm pummeled the city.
“At some point during today, it looked like a scene out of Dr. Zhivago,” Lightfoot told reporters at a news conference today.
“But our city has had a lot of days like this, even this year. And I want everyone to know, as you can see from the folks that are here, and the folks that you can’t see in the front row from various city departments. This is an all-hands-on deck-moment, and we are ready to make sure that our city continues to function, even in this extreme weather circumstance,” she added.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced today that the state has canceled all of its Covid-19 mass vaccination events scheduled this week due to extreme winter weather.
To protect doses, shipments dedicated for this week’s mass vaccinations events will remain in the nine Missouri State Highway Patrol regions across the state and be redistributed to community hospitals with emergency generators. Those hospitals will be allowed to administer the vaccine to those currently eligible, according to the release. Second doses that were scheduled to be administer during the mass vaccination program will be retained in the region and administered “as promptly as possible.”
“The state is making every effort to reschedule these events, but individuals who were registered are encouraged to reach out to other vaccinators in their region in the interim,” the release said.
Nevada may experience a delay in vaccine deliveries this week due to powerful storms that have impacted much of the country.
According to the Nevada Health Response (NHR), the state received word that the disruption could occur and they’re working with the health districts and pharmacies that may be affected.
The NHR urged Nevadans to continue to be patient.
A giant winter storm that’s brought ice and plummeting temperatures to a large swath of the middle of the country is also causing widespread power outages – and local health officials issued fresh warnings Monday about safely keeping warm.
People who lose the ability to heat their homes may be tempted to turn on gas ovens or stoves, fire up grills or climb into cars to warm up. But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400 Americans die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, many because they’ve tried do-it-yourself fixes during power outages.
With more than 3.5 million customers without power in Texas and at least 572,941 without electricity in Oregon, Louisiana, Virginia, and Mississippi, the risk is high.
Louisiana’s state health department updated warnings Monday.
The CDC has a long list of dangers. “Carbon monoxide (CO) is found in fumes produced any time you burn fuel in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, or furnaces. CO can build up indoors and poison people and animals who breathe it,” the CDC says on its website.
“Don’t run a car or truck inside a garage attached to your house, even if you leave the door open; Burn anything in a stove or fireplace that isn’t vented; Heat your house with a gas oven; Use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, or other gasoline or charcoal-burning device inside your home, basement, or garage or outside less than 20 feet from a window, door, or vent,” the CDC cautions.
“Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning not linked to fires, more than 20,000 visit the emergency room, and more than 4,000 are hospitalized.”
More than 3.5 million customers are without power in Texas as of Tuesday evening, according to poweroutage.us.
At least 572,941 customers are also without electricity across Oregon, Louisiana, Virginia, and Mississippi.
Here are the outages by state:
A man who slipped on ice and hit his head is Louisiana’s first death related to the winter storm sweeping across the state, the state’s Department of Health confirmed Monday.
The 50-year-old man who lived in Lafayette Parish died after slipping on the ice and hitting his head on the ground, the Louisiana Department of Health said in a news release.
“The coroner has confirmed this death as storm related. It is the first death related to the February 2021 Winter Storm,” the department said in the statement.
The city of San Antonio, Texas, has postponed coronavirus vaccine appointments scheduled Tuesday at the Alamodome until Saturday due to the winter storm, according to a city news release.
This is the second straight day San Antonio has postponed vaccinations at the venue. Over the weekend, the city made the decision to move Monday’s appointments to Friday.
The winter storm also appears to be impacting coronavirus vaccine shipments in some parts of Texas.
The Corpus Christi – Nueces County Public Health District will not be receiving its first vaccine dose allocations on Monday and Tuesday, the city announced in a news release.
The soonest a new shipment may come will be Wednesday, according to the city’s news release.
The Illinois Department of Transportation urged residents to “stay home” as a winter storm dropped heavy snow on roads across the state.
“Roads are an absolute mess just about everywhere,” the department tweeted.
“Heavy snowfall rates combined with blowing snow means that roads are getting covered faster than we can get them cleared,” the department said.
The National Weather Service in St. Louis, Missouri, encouraged motorists to keep their distance on the roads due to dangerous driving conditions.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly pleaded with residents to conserve power Monday afternoon, as her state continues to deal with the lingering effects of sub-freezing temperatures and a winter storm.
Andrew French, chair of the Kansas Corporation Commission, echoed Kelly’s sentiments, as many Kansans experienced their first series of rolling blackouts on Monday afternoon.
“We are right on the edge of whether curtailments of power are needed or not, and so to the extent folks can conserve safely, we would certainly encourage them to try to cut back on that usage of natural gas and electricity. Over the next 48 to 72 hours which will be the critical period,” French said.
French added that Monday’s rolling blackouts typically lasted for 60 to 90 minutes and were coordinated statewide through the Southwest Power Pool. The first series of blackouts have concluded, and French is hopeful that the current supply is adequate meaning they will not have to conduct a second series on Tuesday.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Military Department have deployed the National Guard to conduct welfare checks on residents, as the state continues to battle bitter cold and a winter storm, according to a news release from his office.
State officials are also sending resources to assist local municipalities clear roadways and assist health care personnel and power grid workers, the release said.
The state has opened 135 warming centers as more than 3 million residents contend with power outages and heating concerns, according to the release.
“ERCOT and the PUC are working non-stop to restore power supply. The state has also deployed resources to assist Texans without power and to help essential workers continue to carry out their jobs. In the meantime, I encourage all Texans to continue to stay off the roads, and conserve energy as state agencies work with private providers to restore power as quickly as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, the city of Fort Worth, Texas, has issued a boil water notice for residents living in the north side of the city, according to a Facebook post from the Fort Worth Water Department.
The order comes after a power outage at the Eagle Mountain Treatment Plant and a subsequent loss of water pressure.
Ryan Rijken said his family in north Texas has been dealing with rolling power outages since around 3 a.m. local time on Monday.
His wife, Salena, is eight months pregnant and is caring for their young boys, Max, 4, and Theo, 2.
“It has been on and off intermittently since about 3 a.m. We get about 30 min on, 45 off. Some stretches have been toward an hour either way,” said Rijken who lives in Celina, Texas.
“My wife is almost eight months pregnant and she’s keeping our boys bundled under blankets while they hang out during the outages,” he added.
When asked if he thought they might go to a hotel if the outages continue, Rijken said, “Ya, it’s pretty insane. Been in DFW since 2004 and can’t remember it being like this. We haven’t considered a hotel because as much as we can gather, much of the area is working through what we’re working through too, including businesses and hotels.”
Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said there have been two fatal crashes today, calling road conditions “extremely hazardous” during an afternoon news conference.
The transportation secretary said highway crews are working as hard as they can, with as many as 2,000 employees and more than 1,000 pieces of equipment working to clear roads across the state.
Gov. Andy Beshear this afternoon again addressed the significant winter storm affecting the state, saying Kentucky is one of the only state’s seeing all three — snow, sleet and freezing rain, or an ice storm “in a very significant way.”
Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said every single county in the state is under either a watch or a warning.
“There is weather in every single county at this point,” he said.
Dossett said the state is expecting another winter weather event Wednesday and Thursday. “It’s basically play it again. We’re going to experience rain, snow, sleet and ice, maybe three to six inches of accumulation of snow. And then we will move into, thankfully, a warming trend,” he said.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol has investigated more than 400 weather-related traffic incidents since Sunday.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol tweeted that 443 incidents have been reported statewide as of noon CT today. The agency said it is “working hard to keep up with calls to investigate accidents and offer assistance to motorists affected by the winter storm.” They asked people to “please refrain from unnecessary travel.”
Icy roads are reported throughout the state due to the winter storm, according to a Facebook post by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. All but eight counties reported ice on roads and bridges as of 1 p.m. CT, the post said.
More than 3.8 million customers are without power in Texas Monday afternoon due to a winter storm, according to poweroutage.us
More than 600,000 customers are also without electricity across Oregon, Louisiana, Virginia and Mississippi.
Here are the outages by state:
Evergy announced Monday it has begun to turn off electricity to blocks of customers across Kansas and Missouri for about 30 to 60 minutes in “controlled, temporary emergency electricity reductions” to avoid larger and extended power outages.
In a news release, the company said that once the period has concluded, power will be restored to the impacted area.
Evergy said it is following a directive from the Southwest Power Pool “due to the extended extreme temperatures affecting the regional power supply.”
Evergy serves about 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri, according to the release.
Several parishes in Louisiana have implemented curfews due to the cold weather and icy conditions throughout the state.
East Baton Rouge Parish, which includes Baton Rouge, will be under a curfew starting tonight at 8 p.m. through 7 a.m. CT tomorrow while West Baton Rouge Parish’s curfew will be from 9 p.m. CT through daylight on Tuesday.
Other curfews were announced in the parishes of Acadia, Lafourche, Lafayette, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, and Vermilion.
