The Texas Winter Storm And Power Outages Killed Hundreds More People Than The State Says

[douglas9]

The true number of people killed by the disastrous winter storm and power outages that devastated Texas in February is likely four or five times what the state has acknowledged so far. A BuzzFeed News data analysis reveals the hidden scale of a catastrophe that trapped millions of people in freezing darkness, cut off access to running water, and overwhelmed emergency services for days.

The state’s tally currently stands at 151 deaths. But by looking at how many more people died during and immediately after the storm than would have been expected — an established method that has been used to count the full toll of other disasters — we estimate that 700 people were killed by the storm during the week with the worst power outages. This astonishing toll exposes the full consequence of officials’ neglect in preventing the power grid’s collapse despite repeated warnings of its vulnerability to cold weather, as well as the state’s failure to reckon with the magnitude of the crisis that followed.

Many of the uncounted victims of the storm and power outages were already medically vulnerable — with chronic conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and kidney problems. But without the intense cold and stress they experienced during the crisis, many of these people could still be alive today.

This was the case for 80-year-old Julius Gonzales, his family believes. As dawn broke on February 15, he made his way to one of his regular dialysis appointments, only to find that the clinic had lost power and was closed. So the retired maintenance worker turned his Dodge Ram around and headed back to the mobile home he’d shared with his wife, Mary, in the small town of Arcola, Texas, for nearly 20 years

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-death-toll?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick have blood on their hands

[area51]

2. +1

And yet the TX lege has tried to push through bills banning abortion, forcing the playing of the national anthem at sports games, permitless open gun carry, etc., instead of forcing these power companies to heel, and joining either the eastern or western US power grid for redundancy.