It’s been a rough couple of days for millions of people in Texas who lost power. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said the state was facing “rotating outages as extreme winter weather forces generating units offline.” But the ABC affiliate in Houston says these are just rotating outages, but instead “a systemwide failure.”

“Grid managers declared an emergency after the record-breaking energy use strained utilities beyond capacity. Outages across Texas could last for hours, even stretching into days, due to multiple power generation plants that are offline, according to officials. An estimated 75% of Texas power generation capacity is impacted.”

ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said, “Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now.” But more than 4 million people lost power as temperatures in cities like Dallas and Austin plunged into the single digits and the wind chill for some areas was as low as -30. More bad news came late Tuesday as ERCOT said they aren’t sure when the outages would end. The Dallas Morning News reports that while some power has been restored some people could remain without power for the foreseeable future, “As of 6 p.m. more than 3 million Texans, many of them in North Texas, are enduring extended outages as icy conditions have settled in across the region.” The newspaper cites one ERCOT official as saying, “An uncontrolled blackout could leave Texans without power for “an indeterminate amount of time,” maybe a month.”

Texas Congressman Julian Castro is one of the many calling for an investigation into this crisis:

“Millions of Texans are cold and in the dark during a dangerous winter storm—and I led the Texas delegation expressing our grave concerns that power outages are not distributed fairly. Texans deserve immediate answers and accountability from @ERCOT_ISO, and their power restored.”

These conditions are not only uncomfortable but also dangerous. The Houston Chronicle reports that as of Tuesday afternoon, “At least 10 people in the Houston area have died in incidents related to the brutal cold weather conditions after suffering injuries in fires, suspected carbon monoxide poisoning and motor vehicle accidents, authorities said.”

The Austin Statesman cites one resident who said, “Things are dire here… Many people are without food, water, heat going on 32 hours… Cars are running out of gas to keep us warm, hotels are booked. People feel lost, alone and scared. People indeed need help here.”

There is also a major concern for the homeless.

The Houston Chronicle says this is “a catastrophic failure of the state’s power grid.” 

The Texas power grid, powered largely by wind and natural gas, is relatively well equipped to handle the state’s hot and humid summers when demand for power soars. But unlike blistering summers, the severe winter weather delivered a crippling blow to power production, cutting supplies as the falling temperatures increased demand.

Natural gas shortages and frozen wind turbines were already curtailing power output when the Arctic blast began knocking generators offline early Monday morning.

https://twitter.com/DraperRobert/status/1361654757467815938

President Joe Biden has approved a Federal Emergency Declaration for Texas. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “This disaster declaration provides Texas with additional resources and assistance that will help our communities respond to this winter weather.”

The ABC affiliate in Houston takes a look at why the power system in the state has failed. Watch above.