Winter_Weather_New_York_01339 People disembark a Long Island Rail Road train at the Forest Hills station as snow falls Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Winter_Weather_North_Carolina_00189 A man is loaded onto a bus for a trip to a hotel on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 in Charlotte, N.C. Residents of the homeless encampment "Tent City" are being required to vacate the area within 72 hours after health risks from rodent infestation was found in the area. (Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_35680 Victor Hernandez, left, and Luis Martinez fill their water containers with a hose from a spigot in Haden Park, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 in Houston. Texas officials have ordered 7 million people to boil tap water before drinking it following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_16184 Shoppers stand on a long line inside a Target in South Austin, Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. Power outages in Texas have dropped to below a half million, but the state is still facing major problems with drinking water systems. (Kolby Lee via AP)
Kolby Lee via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_95307 People stand in line outside an HEB grocery store in the snow Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Austin, Texas. The store did not have milk, eggs, meat or refrigerated items. Temperatures dropped into the single digits as snow shut down air travel and grocery stores.(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
AP Photo/Ashley Landis
Winter_Weather_New_York_89448 Pedestrians wear protective masks during the coronavirus pandemic as they walk along 71st Avenue as snow falls Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
APTOPIX_Winter_Weather_Texas_80115 A fox or small coyote crosses Plano Road between cars moving through the Spring Creek Nature Area as a second winter storm brought more snow and continued freezing temperatures to North Texas on Tuesday night, Feb. 16, 2021, in Richardson, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Winter_Weather_Tennessee_41921 A lone man walks down the center of a snowy Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Jim Weber/Daily Memphian via AP
Winter_Weather_West_Virginia_09143 An AEP worker begin cuts tree branches from a power line, as the area continues to deal with the fall out from winter weather on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Huntington, W.Va. (Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP)
Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP
Winter_Weather_Tennessee_41170 Mike Leslie capitalizes on a rare chance to cross-county ski in Overton Park in Midtown Memphis, Tenn. Feb. 17, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_17704 Crews use plows to clear snow from American Airlines Terminal C at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Dallas. Another round of snow fell overnight at the airport. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_54806 U.S. Postal Services mail carrier RayShawn Riley delivers mail to a snow covered neighborhood after a second winter storm brought more snow and continued freezing temperatures to North Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Richardson, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Winter_Weather_Tennessee_84821 Beau Bowden grabs his snow board while catching air at the bottom of the Mississippi River Bluffs in Downtown Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Jim Weber/Daily Memphian via AP
APTOPIX_Winter_Weather_Nebraska_22256 A bluejay looks on as a competitor for food comes in for a landing on a hanging peanut wreath bird feeder on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, on the south shore on Holmes Lake Park in Lincoln, Neb. After 10 days of frigid weather - including a period of below-zero high temperatures - the area is forecasted to receive a more reasonable climate heading into the next week and a half. (Francis Gardler/Lincoln Journal Star via AP)
Francis Gardler/Lincoln Journal Star via AP
Winter_Weather_Nebraska_35472 A pair of ice fishermen pull a sled with their gear out on the snow and ice-covered surface of Holmes Lake Park on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021 in Lincoln, Neb. After 10 days of frigid weather - including a period of below-zero high temperatures - the area is forecasted to receive a more reasonable climate heading into the next week and a half. (Francis Gardler/Lincoln Journal Star via AP)
Francis Gardler/Lincoln Journal Star via AP
Winter_Weather_West_Virginia_68370 Thick ice is accumulates on a parked car as the area continues to deal with the fall out from winter weather on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Huntington, W.Va. (Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP)
Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP
Winter_Weather_West_Virginia_06877 View of downed and broken trees over a rest stop in Huntington, W.Va. on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, as the area continues to deal with the fall out from winter weather. (Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP)
Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_13693 Donated water is distributed to residents, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Houston. Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Winter_Weather_Texas_88867 A man crosses a bridge along the River Walk as snow falls, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in San Antonio. Snow, ice and sub-freezing weather continue to wreak havoc on the state's power grid and utilities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Winter_Weather_Texas_53550 U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, loads donated water into a car at a distribution site Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Houston. Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Winter_Weather_Texas_19109 Donated water is unloaded at a distribution site, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Houston. Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Winter_Weather_Texas_41201 Snow begins to accumulate as San Antonio police officers gather near the Alamo, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in downtown San Antonio. Snow, ice and sub-freezing weather continue to wreak havoc on the state's power grid and utilities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Winter_Weather-Texas_Water_67290 Burger's Lake put a hose on their natural spring and are supplying people with clean water Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. The spring flows to the Trinity River in the winter and it was diverted to help people during the storm. (Yffy Yossifor/Star-Telegram via AP)
Yffy Yossifor/Star-Telegram via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_16856 A couple walk through falling snow, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in downtown San Antonio. Snow, ice and sub-freezing weather continue to wreak havoc on the state's power grid and utilities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Winter_Weather_Texas_21998 Leovardo Perez, right, fills a water jug using a hose from a public park water spigot Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Houston. Texas officials have ordered 7 million people to boil tap water before drinking it following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Winter_Weather_Texas_31380 People wait in near freezing temperatures to fill water bottles and coolers with water from a public park spigot Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Houston. Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Winter_Weather_Texas_98754 Donated water is distributed to residents, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Houston. Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Winter_Weather_Deep_South_62878 Joeann Brown, right and John Henry Cabitt watch the weather report on a large screen monitor while staying at the warming shelter in the Johnnie Champion Community Center in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. Some people at the shelter had lost power, water and heat at their homes following winter storms, but many are people experiencing homelessness. Food, a cot to sleep on and warm blankets were provided. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Winter_Weather_Texas_04844 Tom Keller walks across the gymnasium floor in a warming shelter at St. Martin's Lutheran Church on West 15th Street in downtown Austin, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. Church members opened the shelter Sunday and have been sheltering and feeding more than 20 homeless people during the winter storm. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP
APTOPIX_Winter_Weather_Texas_Fire_68240 James Anyaegvu, who lived in a home that burned, speaks with a fire fighter in Austin on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. Austin Fire Department and ATCEMS responded to a house fire that killed two people and left several with critical and minor injuries. (Bronte Wittpenn/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Bronte Wittpenn/Austin American-Statesman via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_50182 Allan Woodson rests in a warming shelter at St. Martin's Lutheran Church on West 15th Street in downtown Austin, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. Church members opened the shelter Sunday and have been sheltering and feeding more than 20 homeless people during the winter storm. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_88889 A man walks across a frozen lake at Cottonwood Park in Richardson, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. Temperatures in the region continue to remain below freezing heading into Friday. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Winter_Weather_Tennessee_43568 Joggers run down a street empty of cars Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Nolensville, Tenn. A second winter storm in a week is bringing more snow to much of Tennessee. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
Winter_Weather_Texas_42572 A Park Policeman patrols along the River Walk as snow falls, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in San Antonio. Snow, ice and sub-freezing weather continue to wreak havoc on the state's power grid and utilities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Winter_Weather_Oklahoma_48682 Ximena Carrizalez, 11, of Tulsa, laughs while riding down a hill while sledding at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Okla. on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP)
Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP
Winter_Weather_New_York_85273 A man makes his way down a snowy sidewalk against a backdrop of murals after several inches of snow fell on the area, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
AP Photo/Kathy Willens
APTOPIX_Winter_Weather_Texas_37848 After seeing a posting on Facebook, LaDonna (no last name given) drove from Johnson County, Texas to collect some of the dumpsters-full of ice cream thrown out at a supermarket, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Arlington TX. LaDonna said she's collecting the frozen goods for her neighbors. Rolling power outages this week have forced businesses to clear merchandise that needs refrigeration. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_18613 An Oncor crew works on along Elsie Faye Higgins Street as power outages continue across the state after a second winter storm brought more snow and continued freezing temperatures to North Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_73140 Mighty Wash employee Fuastino "Frosty" Calderon watches his coworkers shovel the car wash's driveway from atop a pile of snow after slipping on ice Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021 in Odessa, Texas. Calderon and his coworkers shoveled snow at the car wash on Wednesday as a way to help pass the time and keep from being stuck inside as the Permian Basin begins to recover from the severe winter storm that passed through Texas. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP)
Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP
Winter_Weather_Deep_South_00301 Stacey Manning peers out from a layer of towels, clothes and gloves while waiting for dinner in the warming shelter at the Johnnie Champion Community Center in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. Some people at the shelter had lost power, water and heat at their homes following winter storms, but many are people experiencing homelessness. Food, a cot to sleep on and warm blankets were provided. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Winter_Weather_North_Carolina_89958 Drivers navigate slippery conditions caused by freezing rain along Interstate 40/85 near Burlington, N.C., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 as winter weather moves through the state. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
AP Photo/Gerry Broome
Winter_Weather_Texas_35554 Leonel Solis and Estefani Garcia use their car to heat their home in East Dallas area of Dallas on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. The couple, who lost power on Sunday, have been using electricity from a neighbor's generator and heat from their car to stay warm after seeing it on TikTok. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Winter_Weather_Texas_85015 The parking lot of a Walmart Store on Coit Road empties as a second winter storm brought more snow and continued freezing temperatures to North Texas on Tuesday night, Feb. 16, 2021, in Plano, Texas. Walmart announced on Tuesday the chain would be closing 415 stores in Texas due to the weather. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Power was restored to more homes and businesses Thursday in states hit by a deadly blast of winter that overwhelmed the electrical grid and left millions shivering in the cold this week. But the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, where many people still lacked safe drinking water.
In Texas on Thursday, about 325,000 homes and businesses remained without power, down from about 3 million a day earlier, though utility officials said limited rolling blackouts were still possible.
The storms also left more than 320,000 homes and businesses without power in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. About 70,000 power outages persisted after an ice storm in eastern Kentucky, while nearly 67,000 were without electricity in West Virginia.
And more than 100,000 customers remained without power Thursday in Oregon, a week after a massive snow and ice storm. Maria Pope, the CEO of Portland General Electric, said she expects power to be restored by Friday night to more than 90% of the customers still in the dark.
Meanwhile, snow and ice moved into the Appalachians, northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, and later the Northeast. Back-to-back storms left 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow in Little Rock, Arkansas, tying a 1918 record, the National Weather Service said.
The extreme weather was blamed for the deaths of more than four dozen people, some while trying to keep warm. In the Houston area, one family died from carbon monoxide as their car idled in their garage. A woman and her three grandchildren were killed in a fire that authorities said might have been caused by a fireplace they were using.
Utilities from Minnesota to Texas implemented rolling blackouts to ease strained power grids. Southwest Power Pool, a group of utilities covering 14 states from the Dakotas to the Texas Panhandle, said rolling blackouts were no longer needed, but asked customers to conserve energy until at least Saturday night.
Texas’ remaining outages were mostly weather-related, rather than forced blackouts, according to the state’s grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin said rotating outages could return if electricity demand rises as people get power and heating back, though they wouldn’t last as long as outages earlier this week.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned that state residents “are not out of the woods,” with temperatures still well below freezing statewide, south central Texas threatened by a winter storm and disruptions in food supply chains.
Adding to the state’s misery, the weather jeopardized drinking water systems. Authorities ordered 7 million people — a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state — to boil tap water before drinking it, following record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and pipes.
Water pressure dropped after lines froze, and because many people left faucets dripping to prevent pipes from icing over, said Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Abbott urged residents to shut off water to their homes to prevent more busted pipes and preserve pressure in municipal systems.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he expects that residents in the nation’s fourth-largest city will have to boil tap water before drinking it until Sunday or Monday.
FEMA sent generators to support water treatment plants, hospitals and nursing homes in Texas, along with thousands of blankets and ready-to-eat meals, officials said. The Texas Restaurant Association also said it was coordinating donations of food to hospitals.
Some Austin hospitals lost water pressure and heat. But because the problem was statewide and affected other facilities, “no one hospital currently has the capacity to accept transport of a large number of patients,” said David Huffstutler, CEO of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center.
Two of Houston Methodist’s community hospitals had no running water but still treated patients, with most non-emergency surgeries and procedures canceled for Thursday and possibly Friday, said spokeswoman Gale Smith.
Emergency rooms were crowded “due to patients being unable to meet their medical needs at home without electricity,” Smith said.
Texas Children’s Hospital’s main campus at the Texas Medical Center and another location had low water pressure, but the system was adequately staffed and patients had enough water and “are safe and comfortable,” spokeswoman Jenn Jacome said.
The next phase of the state’s disaster response will be to test drinking water from systems knocked offline by the cold. As of Thursday afternoon, more than 1,000 Texas public water systems and 177 of the state’s 254 counties had reported weather-related operational disruptions, affecting more than 14 million people, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The weather also disrupted water systems in Southern cities, including New Orleans, and Shreveport, Louisiana, where fire trucks delivered water to hospitals and bottled water was brought in for patients and staff, Shreveport television station KSLA reported.
Power was cut to a New Orleans facility that pumps drinking water from the Mississippi River and generators were used until electricity was restored.
And in Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said almost the entire city of about 150,000 was without water Thursday night.
Crews were pumping water to refill city’s tanks but faced a shortage of chemicals to treat the water, Lumumba said.
“We are dealing with an extreme challenge with getting more water through our distribution system,” he said.
Drinking water was made available at fire stations throughout Jackson and officials also planned to set up bottled water pickup sites.
About 85 seniors in one Jackson apartment building haven’t had water since Monday and were relying on deliveries from a building manager, said resident Linda Weathersby.
Weathersby said she spent part of Thursday outside collecting buckets of ice to melt it so she could flush her toilet and said “my back’s hurting now.”
As the storms headed east, 12 people had to be rescued Wednesday night from boats after a dock weighed down by snow and ice collapsed on Tennessee’s Cumberland River, the Nashville Fire Department said. Elsewhere in the state, a 9-year-old boy was killed when the tube his father was pulling behind an ATV slammed into a mailbox.
In and around the western Texas city of Abilene, authorities said six people died of the cold — including a 60-year-old man found dead in his bed in his frigid home and a man who died at a health care facility when a lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible.
A 69-year-old Arkansas man was found dead Wednesday after falling into a frozen pond while trying to rescue a calf. In Kentucky, a 77-year-old woman was found dead of likely hypothermia Wednesday night after two days without power and heat.
And a man fell through the ice on the Detroit River on Wednesday night and likely drowned, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.
Before the wintry weather moved from Texas, the city of Del Rio along the U.S.-Mexico border, got nearly 10 inches (25.4 cm) of snow on Thursday, surpassing the city’s one-day record for snowfall. Up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) were forecast for San Antonio, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg urged residents to stay off treacherous roads.
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Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press journalists Terry Wallace in Dallas; Juan Lozano in Houston; Leah Willingham in Jackson, Mississippi; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Darlene Superville in Washington; and Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, contributed.
