Winter storm warning in 25 states including Texas
An unusual cold wave and heavy snow fell in the southern region
Increased power consumption and limited transmission to 14 states
Corona 19 vaccine is also at risk of disposal
Oil prices also surpassed $60 per barrel
Vehicles are slowing down due to snowfall in Texas. [이미지출처=AP연합뉴스]
[아시아경제 뉴욕=백종민 특파원] Limited transmission began in 14 states due to the severe cold and winter storms that struck the southern central United States. The situation is getting worse as a cold wave warning has already been issued to 150 million residents in 25 states.
The cold wave damage in the United States is spreading more and more, with the international oil prices being greatly shaken by the severe cold.
On the 15th (local time), the U.S. Meteorological Agency issued a winter storm warning in 25 states, from Maine near the eastern Canadian border to central and southern Texas.
Weather experts explained that the strong high pressure from the Arctic Circle caused a lot of snow to fall in Oklahoma, as well as in Texas and Louisiana.
In the temperate climate of Oklahoma and northern Texas, record cold temperatures of -8 degrees Fahrenheit (-22 degrees Celsius) Rushed.
A lot of snow piled up in areas where it wasn’t easy to see snow, and traffic was paralyzed, and many residents stockpiled food and gasoline.
Seven state governments, including Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Texas, have declared a state of emergency in preparation for a cold wave.
President Joe Biden also declared an emergency a day ago to support the cold wave damage in Texas, but it was not enough to prevent the spread of the damage.
The state of Texas has entered an emergency circular blackout for 2.6 million households as electricity consumption increased during the winter storm. Due to the limited power outage that took place in more than 10 years, many residents are suffering from extreme cold.
Southwest Powerful, which supplies power to 14 states from northern North Dakota to south-central Oklahoma, has also announced limited transmission.
Snow piled up in Austin, Texas [이미지출처=AP연합뉴스]
One resident said, “It was difficult to see the eyes in Texas, but the boiler could not be operated, and the water pipes were frozen and water could not be used.”
Due to the limited power transmission, vaccination against the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) also took an emergency. Pfizer and Modena vaccines require special low temperature storage, but cannot be used if they cannot be stored frozen due to power outages.
Accordingly, in Houston, Texas, quarantine officials issued an urgent order to vaccinate about 8,000 doses of the vaccine, which were exposed to room temperature due to power outages, and thus became unavailable.
The severe cold in Texas also raised oil prices. Western Texas crude oil (WTI) surpassed $60 per barrel this morning. The strong cold is limiting the operation of oil fields and refineries in Texas, and the supply of natural gas is disrupting.
New York = correspondent Baek Jong-min [email protected]