Wintry blast continues its widespread impact

The view behind the Woodstock History Center earlier this month. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

The winter storm that pummeled the country this week may have left New England, but its impact persists elsewhere with severe power outages and major delays in vaccine distribution. At least two dozen people have died this week from weather-related incidents in the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

In Texas, power had been restored to over 600,000 people by Wednesday morning, but 2.7 million homes in the Lone Star State were still in the dark shortly before 2 p.m., NPR reported. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which runs about 75% of the state's power grid, acknowledged the hardship people are enduring in the extreme cold.

"We know millions of people are suffering," ERCOT's president and CEO, Bill Magness, said in a statement Wednesday. "We have no other priority than getting them electricity. No other priority."

ERCOT asked local utilities to shed 14,000 megawatts of load, which equates to around 2.8 million households. Some municipalities urged residents to reduce their electricity usage, and many had to issue boil-water notices.

The weather's impact also hampered the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts in Texas and elsewhere. In Vermont on Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott said White House officials warned governors that day about postponements in vaccine deliveries to different states due to the storm.

"I'm not sure how that will affect us, but stay tuned," Scott said.

On Wednesday, the delays hit some parts of the Northeast. In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city had to hold off making 30,000 to 35,000 vaccination appointments due to delayed distribution from elsewhere in the country due to weather, The Associated Press reported.

The heavy Arctic blast continued to impact Americans from the south-central U.S. to the mid-East Coast throughout Wednesday. Though some areas will see more moderate temperatures in the coming days, many will experience temps 20 to 35 degrees below normal such as the Great Plains, Mississippi Valley and the lower Great Lakes region, according to the National Weather Service.

— Gareth Henderson