Texans queue for water as US counts cost of deadly winter storm

Frustrated Texans queued for hours for safe drinking water on Feb. 19, after an unprecedented and deadly "polar plunge" burst pipes and left millions in the U.S. state shivering without power or clean water for days.

The extreme winter weather system wreaked havoc across much of the southern and central United States this week, reportedly killing at least 40 people and igniting anger in Texas as authorities scrambled to turn the lights back on.

Houston resident Percy McGee rated his frustration level at "number 10" as he waited his turn at the city's Delmar Stadium, now a mass bottled water distribution site.

"I've been up since five o'clock. And I've been on the road since six. And I know it's 11:30 but I'm gonna sit here until, I mean, I have no choice. All the stores in my area are out of water," he told AFP.

"I'm very frustrated. I'm a diabetic. I have a 94-year-old senior as a diabetic. We haven't had no medicine. Nothing... So I'm really frustrated mentally. But I'm keeping it together," he said.

Erica Granado, another Houston resident, said she had rushed to the site after seeing it on the news.

"I gotta be early because I knew everybody - yeah, everybody wants water and so it's a difficult time for everybody," she said, adding: "Thank God I had gas in my car."

On Friday the weather system was slowly moving northeast, where hardy New Englanders - far more used to scouring winter storms than residents of the Lone Star state - were battening down.

But even as the temperature rose above freezing in Texas - and the National Weather Service forecast weekend weather in the 50s Fahrenheit (10-15 Celsius) - state governor Greg Abbott said some 165,000 people were still without power Friday.

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