The south was hit by the winter storm, millions were left without power in Texas

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The south is hit by a rare winter storm, leaving millions of Texas without electricity on Monday, as officials struggle to respond to snow and low temperatures in states that usually do not deal with any of them.

Much of the United States – more than 150 million people in 25 states – face a winter storm, winter weather or ice storm warning, according to National Weather Service and USA Today.

Thunderstorms and low temperatures extend further south than usual, with single-digit temperatures recorded as far south as San Antonio, according to The Associated Press.

Southern states have experienced widespread power outages, with Texas seeing the most, with more than 2.8 million homes losing electricity as temperatures drop, according to poweroutage.us.

The Texas Electrical Reliability Council (ERCOT) moved rotating outages Monday morning, shutting off power to thousands of homes at a time to handle high demand.

“Every network operator and every electricity company is fighting to restore electricity right now,” ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a statement.

The weather disrupted 400,000 COVID-19 vaccine shipments expected in the state this week, delaying their arrival until at least Wednesday, the Texas Department of State Services told the PA.

Travel was also affected as officials warned drivers to stay off the road due to several weather accidents in at least Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Kentucky. More than 3,000 flights have been delayed, according to FlightAware, with more than 1,700 involving Dallas-fort Worth International and Bush Intercontinental Airports.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a statewide disaster statement before the weekend in preparation for the weather eventand other states, including Oklahoma, he had declared a state of emergency. The National Guard has been activated to respond to weather in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

President BidenJoe Biden Winter storm blows in southern US Biden creates Valentine’s Day post with wife Biden plans to focus on coronavirus in first G7 meeting approved a disaster emergency declaration for all 254 counties in Texas on Sunday night, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to respond.

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