The two deadly winter storms that devastated much of Texas one year ago caused an economic impact that was significantly greater than Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The Texas section of ASCE on Wednesday released a report that analyzed the power grid, plus sectors like water, telecommunications, electricity, energy and transportation.
Authorities said the two storms that led to the death of at least 200 Texans caused a $200-300 million economic impact.
That’s greater than the two most costly hurricanes in U.S. history: Harvey at $145 billion and Katrina at $161 billion, the report states.
One year ago, Texans were dealing with the effects of the unprecedented winter storm that caused the power grid to fail amid frigid temperatures and snow.
Hundreds of people died from hypothermia or as they tried to keep their families warm. Some people died when the medical equipment they relied on lost power.
“ERCOT was dangerously close, in fact about four-and-a-half minutes away, to a complete grid failure. We were fortunate in that we only experienced a partial grid failure,” said Geoff Roberts, the chair of the Beyond Storms Infrastructure Network Resilience Task Committee in the ASCE Texas Section.
See the full report in the video player above.
Read also: