Millions in Texas lose power as winter storm drops temps to -22C

Over two million people are in the dark due to rolling blackouts to stop a system-wide power outage.

The state of Texas continued to reel under a deep freeze, leaving utilities scrambling to meet record power demand and forcing the state’s grid operator to enforce rotating blackouts early on Monday, putting over two million Texans in the dark. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has sought to cut power use in response to a winter record of 69,150 megawatts (MW) on Sunday evening, more than 3,200 MW higher than the previous winter peak in January 2018. Rotating power outages were initiated by ERCOT early Monday morning, meaning thousands went without electricity for short periods as temperatures fell into the teens near Dallas and -5C (around 20F) around Houston.