Texas reeling from storms, power losses

Much of the US on Wednesday remained in the grip of subzero temperatures that have caused scores of deaths and national power outages, including more than 3.4 million customers in Texas alone.

At least 30 people have died since the brutal weather crossed the country last week. The latest storm front hitting Texas on Wednesday was preventing companies from restoring power and was expected to move into the Northeast on Thursday.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has reported that more than 100 million Americans are being affected by the extreme winter weather from the south-central US to the East Coast, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. The NWS said more than 150 million Americans are under winter storm warnings.

Tens of thousands of homes were without electricity in Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana, more than 200,000 in four Appalachian states, and nearly that many in the Pacific Northwest, according to poweroutage.us, which collects reports on power outages. But the worst outages were in Texas.

Governor Greg Abbott said Wednesday that "every source of power Texas has, has been compromised", from coal and renewable energy to the state's nuclear power plant.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCT) which manages the state's power grid, said Wednesday that around 700,000 homes had electricity restored overnight, but more than 3.4 million customers were still without power late Wednesday morning.