texas winter weather storm ice
City of Richardson worker Kaleb Love works to clear ice from a water fountain Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Richardson, Texas.
LM Otero/Associated Press
  • The state of Texas is currently getting pummeled by unusually cold winter storms.
  • Millions have been left without power, heat, or safe drinking water, as burst pipes are also flooding homes.
  • Texans have been sharing the accounts of their experiences online with photos and videos.
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Winter storms have left millions of Texans without power or safe drinking water for days, and many are sharing their dramatic accounts online.

As unusually cold weather pummels the state, about 2.8 million households were without power or heat as of Wednesday morning.

By midday Wednesday, about 7 million people were under notices to boil their water before drinking it or using it to cook, while 264,000 people live in locations with water systems that are not working, NBC reported.

Many people have been dealing with burst pipes and water main breaks, causing severe flooding in some homes and apartments.

One video shared by a reporter at Houston’s ABC13 showed people lining up in a public park to fill buckets with water.

 

One person on Twitter said she had no power or water and shared a photo of a plastic grocery bag in the bowl of her toilet, something some people have been doing since they cannot flush their toilets without water.

On TikTok, one user in Houston posted a video that shows leaking pipes pouring water all over a computer set up.

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A reporter in Dallas shared a video of an apartment complex after frozen pipes burst and flooded the inside.

Another video showed the water rushing down from apartment balconies.

 

A Twitter user in Houston said she had waited in line for an hour to buy food and water, only for the store's power to go out while she was checking out. She said the store would not accept cash, forcing them to leave their items.

The same user said she is under a boil water advisory, but can't actually boil water because she has not had power for three days.

Sarah Asch, a reporter with the Austin Statesman, shared that she'd set up an all-seasons tent in her living room in order to stay warm. 

The extreme cold across the region has been tied to the deaths of at least 20 people. 

Read the original article on Insider