CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Winter weather that has overwhelmed power grids and left millions without electricity in record-breaking cold kept its grip on the nation’s midsection Wednesday.
At least 20 people have died, some while struggling to find warmth inside their homes. In the Houston area, one family succumbed to carbon monoxide from car exhaust in their garage; another perished after flames spread from their fireplace.
Blame the polar vortex, a weather pattern that usually keeps to the Arctic, but is increasingly visiting lower latitudes and staying beyond its welcome. Scientists say global warming caused by humans is partly responsible for making the polar vortex’s southward escapes longer and more frequent.
More than 100 million people live in areas covered Wednesday by some type of winter weather warning, watch or advisory, as yet another winter storm hits Texas and other parts of the southern Plains, the National Weather Service said.
NewsNation meteorologist Albert Ramon said the storm will move from Texas and Oklahoma Wednesday morning, to the Mid-South in the afternoon and then into the Northeast by the late evening.
The latest storm front was predicted to bring snow and ice to East Texas, Arkansas and the Lower Mississippi Valley before moving to the northeast on Thursday. Winter storm watches were in effect from Baltimore to Boston, and Texas braced for more icy rain and possibly more snow.
“There’s really no letup to some of the misery people are feeling across that area,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service.
More than 3.3 million customers remained without power by Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. EST in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi; more than 200,000 were without power in four Appalachian states as well as in the Pacific Northwest, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility outage reports.
City of Richardson worker Kaleb Love breaks ice on a frozen fountain Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Richardson, Texas. Temperatures dropped into the single digits as snow shut down air travel and grocery stores. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
A homeless man Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, sleeps at the Chicago Transit Authority’s Clark & Dearborn bus station, the morning after a snowstorm dumped up to 18 inches in the greater Chicago area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Crews with Tupelo Public Works begin to clear the intersection of South Green and Eason Blvd., Monday night, Feb. 15, 2021, as they work through the night to make the roads safe for travel in Tupelo, Miss. (Thomas Wells/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP)
People seeking shelter from below freezing temperatures rest inside a church warming center Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Houston. More than 4 million people in Texas still had no power a full day after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state’s power grid and causing widespread blackouts. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Customers use the light from a cell phone to look in the meat section of a grocery store Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Dallas. Even though the store lost power, it was open for cash only sales. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Pastor Gavin Rogers, left, tries to convince people to come to his warming shelter to escape sub-freezing temperatures, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A man seeking shelter from the cold embraces his dog Dittle D Bear while resting at a warming shelter, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Odessa, Texas. The man who declined to give his real name was a traveler that arrived the night before and stated he was in Odessa this time last year. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP)
Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon stands on his kitchen counter to warm his feet over his gas stove Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Austin, Texas. Power was out for thousands of central Texas residents after temperatures dropped into the single digits when a snow storm hit the area on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Power lines are shown Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Houston. More than 4 million people in Texas still had no power a full day after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state’s power grid and causing widespread blackouts. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Christine Chapman, center, sets down an empty canister to exchange for a full propane tank from Robert Webster, left, outside a grocery store Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Dallas. Even though the store lost power, it was open for cash only sales. Chapman said she has been without power for two nights and is using the propane to keep warm. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Icicles hang from a building Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021, in North Kansas City, Mo. A cold streak continues across the region with temperatures expected to drop to -13 degrees Fahrenheit by by Monday.(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Icicles cling to the Marshall University Memorial Fountain after a winter storm on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in downtown Huntington, W.Va. (Ryan Fischer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP)
People push a car free after spinning out in the snow Monday, Feb. 15, 2021 in Waco, Texas. A winter storm that brought snow, ice and plunging temperatures across the southern Plains and caused a power emergency in Texas stretched its frigid fingers down to the Gulf Coast. (Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald via AP)
Peyton McKinney uses a laundry basket for a sled Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Nolensville, Tenn. Much of Tennessee was hit with a winter storm that brought freezing rain, snow, sleet and freezing temperatures. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Icicles form on a citrus tree from a sprinkler system used to protect the trees from the freezing temperatures on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021 in Edinburg, Texas. A sprawling blast of winter weather across the U.S. plunged Texas into an unusually snowy emergency Monday that knocked out power for more than 2 million people, shut down grocery stores and air travel and closed schools ahead of frigid days still to come.(Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)
Francisco Nara with Cowan Landscaping clears snow from a sidewalk on 21st Street near Xanthus Ave., Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
Fallen trees litter the ground after a tornado tore through a residential area of Brunswick County, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, killing multiple people and injuring others in its trail of destruction. (James Lee/The News & Observer via AP)
A snow plow clears snow off a street, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Portland, Ore. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP)
Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon stands on his kitchen counter to warm his feet over his gas stove Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Austin, Texas. Power was out for thousands of central Texas residents after temperatures dropped into the single digits when a snow storm hit the area on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Houston Police officers Kenneth Bigger, center, and Aaron Day, center right, hand out blankets to people under the elevated portion of I-45 in downtown Houston, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, as a winter weather continues to hit the area. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Snow is piled up on a swing Tuesday morning, Feb. 16, 2021, in La Porte, Ind., after a heavy overnight snowfall. Officially between 5-8 inches fell across the county overnight, but lake effect snow was adding to that total in some areas. (Amanda Haverstick/The News Dispatch via AP)
Two men climb over downed trees as they head out to retrieve gas for generators, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Huntington, W.Va., following a winter weather system. (Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP)
A United Airlines jet is deiced at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Houston. Airport officials said crews are still working to clear thick patches of ice off of the airfield. They expect the airfield to open later this evening after being closed for days due to the severe cold weather which blanketed the area with snow and ice. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The weather has threatened the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination effort. President Joe Biden’s administration said delays in vaccine shipments and deliveries were likely.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients acknowledged Wednesday that the weather was impacting vaccine distribution, and some vaccination centers remained closed.
“People are working as hard as they can, given the importance of getting the vaccines to the states and to providers, but there is an impact on deliveries,” Zients said “What we’re encouraging governors and other partners to do is to extend hours once they’re able to reopen.”
The worst U.S. power outages by far have been in Texas, where officials requested 60 generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and planned to prioritize hospitals and nursing homes. The state opened 35 shelters to more than 1,000 occupants, the agency said.
Texas’ power grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said electricity had been restored to 600,000 homes and businesses by Wednesday morning but that 2.7 million households were still without power.
Oklahoma’s largest electric utility reported no outages Wednesday, a day after rolling blackouts in and around Oklahoma City stopped electric-powered space heaters, furnaces and lights in minus-8 degree weather. But Oklahoma Gas & Electric warned customers of the potential for more short-term service interruptions due to the extreme cold and high demand for natural gas.
Nebraska also avoided another round of rolling power outages as subzero temperatures started to ease.
Entergy imposed rolling blackouts Tuesday night in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Southeast Texas at the direction of its grid manager, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, “as a last resort and in order to prevent more extensive, prolonged power outages that could severely affect the reliability of the power grid,” according to a statement from the New Orleans-based utility.
The Southwest Power Pool, a group of utilities covering 14 states, said the blackouts were “a last resort to preserve the reliability of the electric system as a whole.
The situation in Texas drew attention at Wednesday’s International Energy Forum, including messages of support from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister and OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo.
“As the extreme weather in Texas has shown, we cannot take energy security for granted, even in a country like the United States,” Barkindo said at the forum, which was held virtually.
Travel remains ill-advised in much of the United States, with roadways treacherous and thousands of flights canceled. Many school systems delayed or canceled face-to-face classes.
But even staying home can be hazardous in places without power.
Authorities said a fire that killed three young children and their grandmother in the Houston area likely spread from the fireplace they were using to keep warm. In Oregon, authorities confirmed Tuesday that four people died in the Portland area of carbon monoxide poisoning.
At least 13 children were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth and one parent died of the toxic fumes, hospital officials said.
In Texas, at least, temperatures were expected to rise above freezing by the weekend.
“There is some hope on the horizon,” Oravec said.
The weather also caused major disruptions to water systems in the Texas cities of Houston, Fort Worth, Galveston, Corpus Christi and in Memphis, Tennessee, and Shreveport, Louisiana. In Houston, residents were told to boil their water — if they had power to do so — because of a major drop in water pressure linked to the weather.
In Abilene, Texas, firefighters were hampered by low water pressure as they tried to extinguish a house fire this week.
“They had to watch that house burn,” City Manager Robert Hanna said Tuesday at a news conference.
Stories of kindness emerged from the crisis.
In Clinton, Mississippi, Army veteran Evelyn Fletcher has been cooking and delivering meals to sidelined truck drivers, travelers and people staying at hotels after losing power at home.
“They’re stranded, they’re isolated — people are in need of support right now,” Fletcher said.
On Monday, Fletcher made 85 meals. On Tuesday, she made 30 plates, while a local restaurant, T’Beaux’s Crawfish and Catering, cooked 75 plates of shrimp and gumbo that she and other volunteers delivered. And on Wednesday, Fletcher was cooking a pot of turkey noodle soup, hoping to deliver another 70 meals.
“People are worried about more snow,” she said. “We are going to keep people fed and keep them feeling hopeful.”
England’s Luke Shaw takes a shot during the Euro 2020 soccer championship final match between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. (Paul Ellis/Pool via AP)
England’s Luke Shaw, left, celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the Euro 2020 final soccer match between Italy and England at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. (Facundo Arrizabalaga/Pool via AP)
An England supporter waves a flag near Trafalgar Square in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021, during the Euro 2020 soccer championship final match between England and Italy which is being played at Wembley Stadium. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Fans watch on a giant screen in Rome, Sunday, July 11, 2021, the Euro 2020 soccer championships’ final match between Italy and England played at Wembley stadium in London. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci, right, scores his side’s opening goal during the Euro 2020 final soccer match between Italy and England at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. (Facundo Arrizabalaga/Pool via AP)
Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci celebrates after he scored his side’s first goal during the Euro 2020 soccer championship final between England and Italy at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)
England’s Marcus Rashford reacts after missed a penalty shot during the penalty shootout during the Euro 2020 soccer final match between England and Italy at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. (Andy Rain/Pool Photo via AP)
Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma makes a save against England’s Jadon Sancho during penalty shootout of the Euro 2020 soccer championship final match between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. (Paul Ellis/Pool via AP)
NewsNation affiliates from around the U.S. contributed to this report. The Associated Press contributed to this report.