Millions are in freezing temperatures without heat or electricity, and parents have been struggling to keep their kids warm amid Texas power outages.
More than 3 million Texans have no electricity for the last couple of days and have been without water as cold pipes have exploded in homes throughout the state, making Texans struggle to warm their homes and provide their families with food.
Moreover, reports also confirmed that since the weekend, at least 25 people have died in "weather-related accidents," with the "majority" of Texas deaths occurring.
In cities like Dallas and Corpus Christi, a winter storm battered their state and has set record-low temperatures. Some parts of the state see single-digit and below-zero temperatures. The said cold had placed too much pressure on the state's electrical grid, ensuring that state residents struggle with rolling power outages or complete blackouts.
Notwithstanding all this, and in the wake of his incendiary social media posts that went viral, Colorado City, Texas Mayor Tim Boyd has resigned, calling on people to "sink or swim" and to stop moaning about their lack of electricity.
In the Facebook post, Boyd wrote, "The City and County, along with power providers or any other service, owes you NOTHING!" He added, "I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don't have electricity, you step up and develop a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water, you deal without and think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family."
Texans social media posts amidst power outages
Meanwhile, many affected Texans are taking social media to share how bad it gets when parents struggle to keep their kids warm and safe and warm as cold temperatures and power outages wreak havoc across their homes.
Caro, a frustrated mom, wrote on Twitter, "Being without electricity for over 24 hours and having two kids is horrible in #Texas. My two kids both woke up sick even though I put three layers on them and four blankets to sleep. These power outages are unacceptable. Do better."
In Austin, Texas, Lisa Dallmer, a single mother of two children instated in an interview that after their pipes exploded, she and her sons walked to a friend's home. Since early Monday morning, the family has not had control.
A picture of his daughters huddled under thick wool blankets was posted by Jace Winters on Twitter. Winters reported to TODAY Parents that it took 62 hours for his family to have no electricity.
There are reports of parents staying up all night to continue stoking the flames, with one dad sharing that the house was only 48F despite his efforts.
One family also had to burn the wooden domino set for their kid to fuel the flames.
One father told the horrible tale of having to drive his kid through frozen streets to the ER during the storm, only to find that even the hospital was out of water.
Today's updates say power outages started to improve by Thursday, February 18, 2021, but hardly, as the continuing cold and storm is expected to trigger rotating outages over the next few days. Thanks to the severe weather, 16 Texans have died since last Thursday. Almost 7 million Texans were still under boil-water alerts, meaning that Texans are not advised to drink any water without boiling it. The only problem is that most do not have water, or the water has frozen over, or there is no power to boil it.
