President Joe Biden traveled to Texas on his first trip to the disastrous region, visiting workers reeling from the deadly cold storm. While talking to the emergency worker, the newly-elected president said that they “were doing God’s work”. Friday’s visit came as the state recovers from the massive energy failure that left millions of residents millions without electricity and clean water.
Dozens of death across the state have been caused by the cold weather, but the local media reported that it could take several weeks to determine the original number of fatalities. The unprecedented energy disaster came as the state was recording the lowest temperatures in more than three decades.
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The storm resulted in miles of pipes frozen and eventually subsequently burst as the majority of businesses and homes in the state are not often insulated against cold weather. Moreover, the water filtration plants across Texas froze, residents were forced to boil water to disinfect it. Plus, many collected the snow -rare in the state – and used it to flush their toilets. Meanwhile, several communities across the state are still under orders to boil their water.
Earlier this month, President Biden declared a major disaster in Texas, paving the way for more federal funding for the state’s emergency activities. On Thursday, Biden’s homeland security advisor stated that the White House had already located $9 million for assistance. In his first trip to Texas since assuming the presidential office, Joe Biden toured the state along with First lady Jill Biden and Governor Greg Abbott.
The president started his tour by visiting Harrison County’s emergency operations center, where he commended the workers for doing their job. At one point during the disaster, some 3.5 million residents had no access to war. Since then, the authorities have distributed as many as twelve million water bottles.
Later, Biden visited the Houston Food Bank and helped the staff pack lunch for the school students. Besides, he also visited a local vaccination center run by the federal agency and warned that the health officials could record a surge in infections as new variants of the respiratory disease continue to rise.
