Texas power outages below 500,000 but water crisis persists

By PAUL J. WEBER and JILL BLEED Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Power has been restored to more Texans, with fewer than half a million homes still without electricity. But many people were still without safe drinking water after winter storms wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid and utilities this week. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 7 million people have been ordered to boil their water before consuming it, following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes. Little Rock, Arkansas, got 15 inches of snow in back-to-back storms, tying a 1918 record. The Appalachians, northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania braced for heavy snow and ice as wintry weather returned to the Northeast.