Winter storm hits US Texas, statewide power failure not expected

Texas, the second largest US state, is fighting “one of the most significant icing events … in at least several decades” though statewide grid failure like the one that occurred in last year’s freeze is not expected, Governor Greg Abbott has said.

Temperatures plunged within 24 hours, power lines were downed by icing accumulation, tree breakage and high winds, leading to road closures and outages across the state. About 70,000 Texan households lost power as of Thursday noon, Xinhua news agency the governor as saying.

In northern Texas, widespread sleet began to transition to snow early Thursday. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport had to temporarily suspend operations in the day because of the weather impacts. Cold temperatures and hazardous roads are possible into the weekend.