By now, just about everyone has heard of the ice that fell off the Super Bowl stadium in Dallas, the deep freeze that chilled Chicago and the waves of winter storms that hit the Northeast so far this winter. But did you know about the thousands without water in El Paso, Texas, or the tens of thousands without natural gas to warm up in New Mexico?
In El Paso, schools were closed and many businesses shut down Monday due to the lack of water.
Officials on Monday said the worst appeared to be over after up to 7,000 customers across the city were without water or with low water pressure for several days.
On Sunday, the city declared a water emergency — hoping residents would be more serious about conserving while crews repaired water pumps that went off line last week.
The crisis started when the state's major utility caused rolling electrical blackouts due to high demand for electricity during snow and ice storms last week. The blackouts shut down pumps and damaged equipment, causing water line breaks.
At the same time, El Paso was also seeing record cold and that mean lots of broken pipes in homes and businesses as well as water line breaks.
In New Mexico, crews were working Monday to restore natural gas service to some 16,000 customers after record cold there caused a shortage. The rolling blackouts in Texas, where much of the gas comes from, also were a factor.
Service has been restored to parts of southern New Mexico, but areas still hit hard include Taos and Espanola.
Last week, the state set up shelters for residents without heat and suggested schools remain closed during the emergency. At one point, more than 30,000 customers were without natural gas.
