47 deaths — and counting
By Reis Thebault, Paulina Firozi and Brittany Shammas
The cold has killed the young and the old. It has claimed lives from southern Texas to northern Ohio. And authorities expect the toll to rise in the coming days, with frigid weather lingering, hundreds of thousands without electricity and millions without clean water.
The two major winter storms that have plunged most of the United States into an Arctic chill have killed at least 47 people since Sunday, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. More than half of them — 30 — lived in Texas, where persistent power outages have exposed residents to bitter temperatures.
In Taylor County, Tex., Sheriff Ricky Bishop said his officers have been checking on residents for days, delivering food and water, and following up with them later to make sure they’re all right. Already, they’ve found three people dead.
