Texas could repeat its electricity crisis if extreme weather hits this winter

Mark Majkrzak hands out water bottles to people in Austin, Texas, Friday the 19th. February. Majkrzak, the founder of Rain Pure Mountain Spring Water, said he drove from Georgia to deliver the water.

Brendan Waldon repairs a toolbar in Odessa, Texas, on Thursday, February 1[ads1]8th.

Deloris Sanchez and Mallissa Lee sit on a couch while they take refuge in a Gallery Furniture store that served as a heating station in Houston.

Vehicles stand still Thursday on Interstate 35 in Killeen, Texas.

City workers repair a damaged water main in McComb, Mississippi, Thursday.

Metropolitan Transit Authority workers shovel the stairs to a New York City subway station on Thursday.

Emanuale Small goes up to a bus station in Roanoke, Virginia, on Thursday. Small had to get to the doctor’s appointment, and he was told that they would push the time back a little for him so that he could still manage despite the icy conditions.

People seek refuge at a shelter in Galveston, Texas, on Thursday.

Cars drive slowly on an icy road in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

Jose Blanco fills a cooler with water from a public park tap in Houston on Thursday. Houston and several surrounding cities were under a warning about boiling water.

Snow falls on Times Square in New York on Thursday.

Snow was cleared outside the US capital on Thursday.

Jonathan Callahan expresses his gratitude after being referred to the warming crisis center at the Johnnie Champion Community Center in Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday, February 17th. Some people living in the shelter had lost electricity, water and heat in their homes after the winter storms. Others were homeless. Food, blankets and cots were provided.

Charles Andrews walks home through his neighborhood in Waco, Texas, on Wednesday. Millions of people were still without power.

Nathan Halaney and Katherine Pena are helping their neighbor, Brenda Davis, from the scene of a nearby fire in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday.

Eric Traugott warms up his young son, Eric Jr., next to a campfire made from a discarded wood cabinet outside their Austin apartment on Wednesday.

Fallen and broken trees were seen over a picnic area in Huntington, West Virginia, on Wednesday.

Sara Castillo loads up in her car in Dallas on Wednesday. Castillo’s family lost power on Sunday.

Customers wait outside a Home Depot to purchase supplies in Pearland, Texas, on Wednesday. The store only let one person in at a time because it had no electricity.

A family in Austin is melting snow on their stove so they could have water to flush toilets and wash up on Wednesday. Their power had been restored, but they still had no running water.

Kendra Clements visits dog owner Billy Madden – with his dogs Leroy Brown and Underdog – at Tribe Gym, a gym in Oklahoma City that has been turned into a temporary shelter for the homeless.

Manessa Grady adjusts an oil lamp while spending time with her sons Zechariah and Noah at their home in Austin on Tuesday, February 16th.

Maria Patterson is breastfeeding her infant daughter on Tuesday at their home in Austin, which had not had electricity since Sunday night.

Electric service vehicles line up in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday.

Karla Perez and Esperanza Gonzalez are warming up at a barbecue after their power went out in Houston on Tuesday.

Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon stands on the kitchen counter to warm his feet over the gas stove in Austin.

Sunlight filters through steam in Omaha, Nebraska, where temperatures fell below zero on Tuesday.

Camilla Swindle is sitting in a shopping cart while she and her boyfriend wait in a long queue to enter a grocery store in Austin on Tuesday.

Brett Archibad entertains his family as they try to stay warm in their home in Pflugerville, Texas, on Tuesday.

Residents clear snow from a sidewalk in Chicago on Tuesday.

Customers use lights from a cell phone when shopping for meat at a grocery store in Dallas on Tuesday. Although the store lost power, it was open for cash sales.

A United Airlines jet is the newspaper at George Bush International Airport in Houston.

A snow plow clears a parking lot in Columbus, Ohio, early Tuesday.

City worker Kaleb Love is working to remove ice from a water fountain in Richardson, Texas, on Tuesday.

Steam rises from the frozen Missouri River in Kansas City.

Bethany Fischer washes her face while her husband, Nic, lies on a mattress in a church in Houston on Tuesday. The couple lost power to their home.

Homes in the Westbury area of ​​Houston are covered in snow on Monday, February 15th.

Homeless man James Derrick peeks out of his tent in Oklahoma City on Monday. The city had broken a record five days without climbing above 20 degrees, and it was not expected to peak that temperature until Thursday.

Motorists are taking it slow in Indianapolis on Monday.

A city employee clears sidewalks in South Bend, Indiana, on Monday.

Austin, Texas, is covered in snow on Monday.

Eithan Colindres is wearing a winter coat inside after the family’s apartment lost power in Houston on Monday.

Two women cross Main Street as snow falls in Bowling Green, Ohio, Monday.

A boy feeds his pigs in St. Joe, Arkansas, on Monday.

Ice copper a road sign in Midland, Texas, Monday.

Kirk Caudill shoveling snow in Louisville, Kentucky.

Vehicles clear ice at Nashville International Airport, Tennessee, Monday.

Crews unload snow as they remove from the city streets of Oklahoma City.

People help a motorist who is stuck in Oklahoma City on Monday.

People are walking on a snow-covered road in Austin on Monday.

Men shovel ice and snow in front of stores in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday.

A few cars are driving in San Angelo, Texas, on Sunday, February 14th.

People enter a Covid-19 test site in Seattle on Saturday, February 13th. Seattle reported more than 11 inches of snow over the weekend, mostly since January 1972.

Harrison Walsh is skiing at Seattle’s Pike Place Market on Saturday.

Cars are driving along Interstate 705 as snow falls in Tacoma, Washington, on Saturday.