Texans are still facing water issues, last week’s winter storm could cost Texas billions

A week without reliable water: Over 1.4 million Texans still faced water disruptions on Wednesday afternoon, more than a week after Texas’ winter storms wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid and water services. More than 20,000 people were completely without running water Wednesday afternoon because of water main breaks, mechanical failures or other issues. Experts estimate that damage from the storm will cost billions as Texans deal with burst pipes, which have caused some homes to flood.

On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott sought to reassure Texans that the state was moving aggressively to get to the bottom of last week’s power grid failure. But he didn’t announce anything new and continued to blame the state’s electric grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, for offering false assurances that it was ready for the storm. Abbott also reiterated he has designated ERCOT reform and the “winterization” of the power system as emergency items for the current legislative session.

Costlier than Hurricane Harvey: The winter storm that left dozens of Texans dead, millions without power and nearly 15 million people with water issues could be the costliest disaster in state history, potentially exceeding the $125 billion in damage from Hurricane Harvey. According to Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management, state agencies have so far reported spending $41 million on the storm, and local governments had spent $49 million. Kidd said he expects the state to be reimbursed for 75% of its expenses by the federal government. But while some officials say it’s still too early to know the total cost of destruction, lawmakers are scrambling to account for the storm in the middle of the 2021 legislative session already hampered by the coronavirus pandemic. Read the full story by the Tribune’s Mitchell Ferman.

➕ Watch the Texas House and Senate hold hearings about last week’s winter storm, starting at 9 a.m. Central.

Fighting a county’s legacy of racism: Decade after decade — long after equal voting rights became the law of the land — Waller County’s predominantly white power structure has thrown up hurdles to keep students from the historically Black Prairie View A&M University from voting. Or, at least, to limit their ability to wield meaningful political influence at the ballot box. And three generations of Jayla Allen’s family have been caught up in the struggle.

In 2018, Allen became the lead plaintiff in a drawn-out lawsuit alleging that the county violated the constitutional rights and federal protections for Black voters by setting up a lopsided schedule that offered students fewer opportunities to vote early than the county’s white residents. The ongoing legal case, set in a place with a dark history of discrimination, is playing out at the onset of a modern reckoning over racism and its byproducts, including voter suppression.

Yet officials in Waller contend the litigation over the 2018 early voting schedule is not a continuation of past suppression tactics. They balk at today’s Waller County being painted with too broad a brush based on a history in which current leaders say they played no part. Read the full story by the Tribune’s Alexa Ura.

• Last week’s historic winter storm wiped out most of South Texas’ citrus crop and halted dairy processing in the Texas Panhandle for days. And consumers will likely continue seeing short-term shortages, producers say.
• After hearing reports of some Texans receiving massive electrical bills, the state’s utility regulator said it’s investigating companies that offer their customers rates that fluctuate based on the spot price of wholesale electricity.
• In the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ first meeting since a historic winter storm caused the near-collapse of Texas’ power grid, the director of the board acknowledged the “pain and suffering” that millions of Texans experienced during prolonged power outages — then resigned along with five other board members.
• Operators at oil refineries, chemical manufacturers and petrochemical plants across Texas — mostly in the upper Gulf Coast — warned state regulators that they may have released millions of pounds of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the air due to last week’s winter storm.
• A federal judge in Texas put an indefinite halt to President Joe Biden’s 100-day ban on deportations late Tuesday. The ruling is a victory for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sued to block Biden’s order three days into the Biden administration.
• Join our Instagram Live series on Friday at noon Central: Why did a winter storm leave millions in Texas without power and clean water, and what can officials do to prevent it from happening again? We’ll discuss this with the Tribune’s Erin Douglas.
• Use our updated Texas public schools database to learn more about the state’s 1,202 districts and 8,866 public schools, including hundreds of charter schools and alternative campuses.
• Listen to this week’s TribCast episode: Our staff talks about the political fallout from the winter storm and what the state might do to prevent future widespread power outages.
• U.S. Reps. Marc Veasey and Michael McCaul sat down virtually with the Tribune’s Abby Livingston on Wednesday to talk about last week’s destructive snowstorm and how Texas can move forward — plus, what leadership in Washington D.C. should look like.

• Postal service: A winter storm that plunged through southern states last week forced the U.S. Postal Service to halt delivery in some areas, leaving millions of Texans without mail. Now mail carriers are working to catch up. (The Dallas Morning News, $)
• Education: Southlake is known for its top-ranked public schools. But a heated fight over a diversity plan has some parents questioning their future in the city. (NBC News)
• Electricity issues: A week after the winter storm struck Texas, rural electric cooperatives are still facing problems that urban cooperatives are not. And it could take weeks for the power to return. (Texas Public Radio)
• Housing: Without a state or local moratorium in place, more renters have been evicted in Houston during COVID-19 than almost anywhere else in the country. (Houston Public Media)