Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

At Least 10 People Have Died As Texas Faces A Brutal Winter Storm And Massive Power Outages

At Least 10 People Have Died As Texas Faces A Brutal Winter Storm And Massive Power Outages

Officials have asked for an investigation into the state's electrical grid, which has left millions of people without power during a freezing winter storm.

Texans are grappling with a winter storm that has turned deadly as millions of people face freezing temperatures with no electricity — and no estimate for when they may get power and heat back.

At least 10 people have died as frigid temperatures pummeled the state over the long weekend. On Tuesday, local officials issued dire warnings that the blackouts were likely to continue.

"Whether you have power or not right now, there's a possibility of power outages even after today," Harris County Lina Hidalgo said during a press conference Tuesday. "I know things are bleak, and it's going to be a long week."

More than 3 million homes in the state were without power as of Tuesday evening, according to PowerOutage.us, which collects information on power outages. Coupled with the freezing temperatures, there has been a spike in carbon monoxide poisoning calls as people have resorted to using barbecue grills, generators, and even cars indoors as sources of heat.

In Harris County, Hidalgo said, officials have received at least 300 calls of carbon monoxide poisoning, including one regarding an 8-year-old girl and her mother, who passed out and died while on the phone.

"We're losing our family members to carbon monoxide poisoning," Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said during the press conference.

The loss of heat has also resulted in frozen water pipes and contamination in some jurisdictions, prompting officials in the Rio Grande Valley and in Fort Worth to issue warnings to residents to boil water before use.

At least 10 deaths in the state are suspected of being connected to the cold temperatures.

In Sugar Land, a grandmother and three children on Tuesday were found dead after a house fire. Investigators told KHOU the cause of the fire was under investigation, but the family had been using their fireplace during power outages to try to keep warm.

In Houston, police said, a man whose body was found in a street median was believed to have died from exposure to the cold temperatures. Another 60-year-old man was found dead inside a van possibly from exposure.

Another man was killed on Monday after he was hit by a car on Interstate 10; he had just gotten out of his vehicle following a crash on the icy roads.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office also told KSAT the death of a 78-year-old man, whose body was found in his home by his wife on Monday, may have been due to the extreme cold.

The number of fatalities related to the storm and cold temperatures may continue to rise.

In Galveston County, the medical examiner's office had requested on Tuesday a refrigerated truck to handle a surge of deaths as the county braces for even more icy rain, according to ABC 13.

It was unclear if that was directly connected to the storm, but Galveston County Judge Mark Henry told the local news station that the medical examiner's office needed to suddenly increase its capacity to hold an additional 20 to 50 bodies.

The county medical examiner's office also handles cases from neighboring Brazoria County.

On Tuesday, Henry blasted the state's electrical power grid, managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), for the blackouts. In his county, most of the more than 340,000 residents have been without power for at least two days.

The county was told Sunday to prepare for rolling blackouts, but Henry said the situation had worsened since then.



"What we quickly found out was that they weren't rolling at all," he said in a Facebook post. "They went off and they stayed off for as much as 48 hours at this point, and counting."

He called the response "unacceptable," considering the storm had been anticipated for about a week.

The ongoing power outages have prompted officials to call for an investigation into the handling of the state's electrical grid. Unlike the rest of the US, most of Texas is on its own power grid, and its equipment could not withstand the freezing temperatures.

On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott said he was calling for an investigation into ERCOT.

"Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather," he said in a statement. "This is unacceptable."

Hidalgo in a press conference noted that the ERCOT had, throughout the weekend, issued optimistic messages that power would soon be restored, only for residents to face more long power outages.

She warned residents that until ERCOT's promises were fulfilled, they will need to continue to brace for cold temperatures and no power for the rest of the week.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×