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| Bottled water was distributed to residents of Houston, Texas, USA, suffering from the worst drinking water crisis. © AFP=News1 |
US President Joe Biden has officially declared the state of Texas a disaster zone after a record cold.
According to Reuters on the 20th (local time), President Biden declared 77 Texas counties as disaster zones. This means that federal budgets can be used to recover and assist victims.
In addition, President Biden will visit Texas next week as early as next week and tour the affected area.
Electricity has been restored in much of Texas, but many residents are still suffering from water shortages.
The AFP news agency said that as the cold wave that hit Texas for several days gradually withdrawn, solving the water crisis has emerged as a key problem.
According to the Texas Environmental Quality Commission (TCEQ), 14.3 million people, or about half of the total Texas population (29 million), are still suffering from drinking water shortages.
“Distributing drinking water and distributing bottled water are still our top priorities,” said Nim Kidd, chief of Texas Disaster Management.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said on the day that he will maintain a warning to boil water, which had been lowered for possible drinking water contamination, until the 22nd.
Texas is the only state in the US of 50 states to have an independent power supply network separate from the federal government. The power outage situation turned into the worst situation this time because the power could not be linked with other states.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into the Electric Reliability Commission (ERCOT) that operates the Texas power grid and 11 power companies in the state.