Photos Show Texans Dealing With Deadly Cold Weather, Power Outages

As Texans continue to endure power outages triggered by extreme winter weather, photos show residents sheltering inside cars and local businesses as they face burst pipes, boil water advisories and food shortages. The record-low temperatures have been blamed for nearly two dozen deaths.

“This is in many ways disasters within the disaster,” Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which encompasses Houston, told Reuters. “The cascading effects are not going to go away.”

Though the number of homes without power dropped below half a million on Thursday for the first time in four days, millions of people across the state have had their water either entirely cut off or are only receiving it intermittently. Many local food pantries are also struggling to maintain supplies.

Check out some of the scenes below. 

Above: People wait in line to fill propane tanks on Wednesday in Houston.

Motorists travel on ice and snow on Golder Avenue in Odessa, Texas, on Tuesday.

Alvin Williams, 66, checks his phone on Wednesday while taking a shelter at Gallery Furniture store, which transformed into a warming station after winter weather caused electricity blackouts in Houston.

A person sleeps on a chair while taking a shelter at Gallery Furniture.

Krystan Hood and her two young children sit inside her heated car after cold weather knocked power out in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday. 

Empty shelves at a supermarket in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday.

Father John Szatkowski of St. Paul The Apostle Church sweeps water from a broken water line out of his church in Richardson, Texas, on Wednesday.

Honey Russell shovels snow from her sidewalk after a snow storm on Monday in Fort Worth.

Brett Archibad helps his son, Avett, build a snow fort in Pflugerville, Texas, on Tuesday. 

A man walks to a friend’s home in a neighborhood without electricity in Pflugerville on Monday.

Mighty Wash employees get a running start to shovel up ice and snow while clearing the car wash’s driveway on Wednesday in Odessa.

A man walks his dog on Tuesday in downtown Fort Worth.