Story at a glance
- Historic snowfall in the southern United States last month caused a major failure in Texas’s power grid.
- Millions of Texans were trapped without electricity or heat during unusually cold temperatures.
- The official death toll is now more than 100 according to the state’s health department.
More than 100 Texans died as a result of the winter storm that knocked out the state’s power grid last month according to the state’s health department, more than doubling previous death tolls.
“We’ll probably never have a really accurate number,” said Jeffrey Barnard, Dallas County’s chief medical examiner, according to the Dallas Morning News, which reported that a more exact estimate could take months.
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Millions were without power and heat for days during historic snowfall and record-low temperatures, and the state’s health department said most of the 111 deaths reported between Feb. 11 and March 5 were associated with hypothermia. Other deaths were caused by motor vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failure, exacerbation of chronic illness, lack of home oxygen, falls and fire.
The blackout, which disproportionately affected low-income, nonwhite communities already devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, has been blamed on the poor winterization of power facilities and structures in the state.
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