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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 3 February 2023

Frustrated Texans endure winter storm with no power, heat

By PAUL J. WEBER and of this storm, it has proven
KEN MILLER very challenging.”
Associated Press Unlike the 2021 blackouts
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Thou- in Texas, when hundreds
sands of frustrated Texans of people died after the
shivered in their homes state’s grid was pushed to
Thursday after more than a the brink of total failure be-
day without power, includ- cause of a lack of genera-
ing many in the state capi- tion, the outages in Austin
tal, as an icy winter storm this time were largely the
that has been blamed for result of frozen equipment
at least 10 traffic deaths lin- and ice-burdened trees
gered across much of the and limbs falling on power
southern U.S. lines.
A warming trend was ex- The city’s utility warned all
pected to bring some relief power may not be restored
later Thursday just in time until Friday as ice contin-
for an Arctic front to drop ued causing outages even
from Canada and threat- as repairs were finished
en northern states, and elsewhere.
in particular those in New “It feels like two steps for-
England, with the coldest ward and three steps
weather in decades. Wind back,” said Jackie Sargent,
chills could dive lower than Icicles hang from the Angelina Eberly statue in downtown Austin, Texas, during a winter storm on general manager of Austin
minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius). Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Energy.
Across Texas, 430,000 cus- Associated Press School systems in the Dallas
tomers lacked power Thurs- tomers in the city of nearly gressive in their communi- news conference Thursday, and Austin area, plus many
day, according to Power- a million at any given time cations,” Rizzolo said. said city officials will review in Oklahoma, Arkansas
Outage.us. But the failures since Wednesday. For many Texans, it was the their communication pro- and Memphis, Tennessee,
were most widespread in Allison Rizzolo, who lost second time in three years tocols in future disasters. closed Thursday as snow,
Austin, where frustration power in Austin, told KEYE- that a February freeze “I know that top of mind sleet and freezing rain con-

mounted among more TV that she wished there temperatures were in the for everyone is restoring tinued to push through.
than 156,000 customers were more clarity from the 30s Thursday with wind chills power to each and every Public transportation in Dal-
over 24 hours after their city on what to do or ex- below freezing caused home, and crews are work- las also experienced “ma-
electricity went out, which pect. “I get that there’s prolonged outages and ing even as we speak and jor delays” early Thursday,
for many also meant their a fine line between pre- uncertainty over when the have through the night,” according to a statement
heat. Power failures have paredness and panic, but I lights would come back on. the mayor said. “Because from Dallas Area Rapid
affected about 30% of cus- wish they’d been more ag- Mayor Kirk Watson, at a of the length and nature Transit.q

Hawaii whale dies with fishing nets, plastic bags in stomach

By AUDREY McAVOY “The presence of undigest- The whale’s stomach con- beaks, fish skeleton and re- tic pollution is produced
Associated Press ed fish and squid lends fur- tained six hagfish traps, mains of other prey in the around Earth each year
HONOLULU (AP) — A whale ther evidence of a block- seven types of fishing net, whale’s stomach. and about a quarter of that
that washed ashore in Ha- age,” she said in a news two types of plastic bags, It’s the first known case of ends up around the water.
waii over the weekend release from the Hawaii a light protector, fishing line a sperm whale in Hawaii Marine debris harms nu-
likely died in part because Department of Land and and a float from a net. Re- waters ingesting discarded merous species.
it ate large volumes of fish- Natural Resources. searchers also found squid fishing gear, West said. Seabirds can ingest as
ing traps, fishing nets, plas- The whale’s stomach much as 8% of their body
tic bags and other marine was so large West’s team weight in plastic. Endan-
debris, scientists said Thurs- wasn’t able to examine it gered Hawaiian monk
day, highlighting the threat completely. They suspect seals and green sea turtles
to wildlife from the millions there was more material can get caught in plastic
of tons of plastic that ends they weren’t able to re- nets and die. Sharks and
up in oceans every year. cover. other apex predators eat
The body of the 56- Researchers found nothing smaller fish that feed on mi-
foot (17-meter) long, wrong with other organs croplastic, which can then
120,000-pound (54,431-kilo- they examined. They col- endanger their own health.
gram) animal was first no- lected samples to screen In addition to eating plas-
ticed on a reef off Kauai on for disease and conduct tics, large whales are
Friday. High tide brought it other follow-up tests. harmed when they be-
ashore on Saturday. Sperm whales travel across come entangled in fishing
Kristi West, the director of thousands of miles in the gear or other ropes in the
the University of Hawaii’s ocean so it’s not clear ocean.
Health and Stranding Lab, This photo released by the Hawaii Department of Land and where the debris came The drag from debris can
said there were enough Natural Resources shows debris found in a dead sperm whale from. force whales to use more
foreign objects in the open- at Lydgate Beach in Kauai County, Hawaii on Wednesday, Feb. Scientists say that more energy to swim and make
ing of the whale’s intestinal 1, 2023. than 35 million tons (31.9 it harder for them to eat,
tract to block food. Associated Press million metric tons) of plas- causing starvation.q