Latest news

Electricity Restored In Texas As Water Woes Rise In The South

Published

4 years ago

February 19, 2021

Many of the millions of Texans who lost power for days after a deadly winter blast overwhelmed the electric grid now have it back, but the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, with many people lacking safe drinking water.

Nearly 185,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Texas according to poweroutage.us early Friday, down from about 3 million two days earlier, though utility officials said limited rolling blackouts were still possible.

The storms also left more than 335,000 from Virginia to Louisiana without power and about 71,000 in Oregon were still enduring a weeklong outage following a massive ice and snow storm.

The snow and ice moved into the Appalachians, northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, and later the Northeast as the extreme weather was blamed for the deaths of at least 57 people, including a 17-year-old Oklahoma girl who fell into a frozen pond Thursday, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

A growing number of people have perished trying to keep warm. In and around the western Texas city of Abilene, authorities said six people died of the cold — including a 60-year-old man found dead in his bed in his frigid home. In the Houston area, a family died from carbon monoxide as their car idled in their garage.

Utilities from Minnesota to Texas used rolling blackouts to ease strained power grids. But the remaining Texas outages were mostly weather-related, according to the state’s grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Federal Emergency Management Agency acting administrator Bob Fenton said Friday that teams were in Texas with fuel, water, blankets and other supplies.

“What has me most worried is making sure that people stay warm,” Fenton said on “CBS This Morning,” while urging people without heat to go to a shelter or warming center.

Rotating outages for Texas could return if electricity demand rises as people get power and heating back, said Dan Woodfin, the council’s senior director of system operations.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned that residents “are not out of the woods,” with temperatures still well below freezing statewide, south central Texas threatened by a winter storm and disruptions in food supply chains.

Adding to the misery: The weather jeopardized drinking water systems. Authorities ordered 7 million people — a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state — to boil tap water before drinking it, following the record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and pipes. In Abilene, a man who died at a health care facility when a lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible.

Water pressure dropped after lines froze and because many people left faucets dripping to prevent pipes from icing, said Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Abbott urged residents to shut off water to prevent more busted pipes and preserve municipal system pressure.

President Joe Biden said he called Abbott on Thursday evening and offered additional support from the federal government to state and local agencies.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said residents will probably have to boil tap water in the fourth-largest U.S. city until Sunday or Monday.

Federal emergency officials sent generators to support water treatment plants, hospitals and nursing homes in Texas, along with thousands of blankets and ready-to-eat meals, officials said. The Texas Restaurant Association was coordinating food donations to hospitals.

Two of Houston Methodist’s community hospitals had no running water and still treated patients but canceled most non-emergency surgeries and procedures for Thursday and possibly Friday, said spokeswoman Gale Smith.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 1,000 Texas public water systems and 177 of the state’s 254 counties had reported weather-related operational disruptions, affecting more than 14 million people, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

About 260,000 homes and businesses in Tennessee’s largest county, which includes Memphis, were told to boil water after cold temperatures led to water main ruptures and problems at pumping stations. Memphis International Airport canceled all incoming and outgoing passenger flights Friday due to water pressure issues.

In Texas, more than 300 flights in and out of Dallas and Houston were canceled Friday, according to flightaware.com. Particularly affected was American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth. The website’s “misery map” showed even more delays and cancellations at airports from Washington, D.C., to Boston as the latest winter storm front moved through the Northeast.

In Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said most of the city of about 150,000 was without water Thursday night. Crews pumped water to refill city tanks but faced a shortage of chemicals to treat the water, she said.

“We are dealing with an extreme challenge with getting more water through our distribution system,” Lumumba said.

About 85 seniors in a Jackson apartment building lost water service Monday and were relying on deliveries from a building manager, said resident Linda Weathersby.

Weathersby went outside collecting buckets of ice to melt it so she could flush her toilet and said “my back’s hurting now.”

Before the wintry weather moved from Texas, the city of Del Rio along the U.S.-Mexico border, got nearly 10 inches (25.4 cm) of snow on Thursday, surpassing the city’s one-day record for snowfall.

Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press journalists Terry Wallace in Dallas; Juan Lozano in Houston; Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; Leah Willingham in Jackson, Mississippi; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Darlene Superville in Washington; and Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, contributed.

(AP)

Latest news

Tension As Unknown Gunmen Kill Police Informant In Imo Community

Published

2 months ago

April 25, 2025

Editor

By Qosim Sulaiman

Palpable tension engulfed the residents of Nkwogwu community, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State following the killing of an elderly man, Pa Albert Nwanchukwu, believed to be a police informant.

The assailants, numbering about eight, who reportedly stormed the home of the late Nwanchukwu at about 10pm on Tuesday, 22 April, 2025, were said to have met him where he was relaxing in his compound and immediately opened fire on him.

According to our source who pleaded anonymity, before his assassination, the late Nwanchukwu, had reportedly went to a police station in the locality to inform them of the activities of the gunmen, just as he pleaded to the police to get them arrested.

Our source disclosed that the late Nwanchukwu never knew that some policemen are accomplished in the act, adding that the policemen no doubt informed the gunmen who in anger came and killed him.

Our source narrated: “They were about eight in number. They came with different weapons – guns, machetes. They were all masked except their leader.

“It was late but the floodlight from the streetlight was bright. They drove dangerously and went straight to Mr Albert Uwandu Nwachukwu house. The man was relaxing in the front of his house. Immediately they saw him, they opened fire,” he died on the spot”, an eyewitness who saw the entire scene from the balcony of his house recounts.

Our source added: “Further investigations proved that the spy had informed this notorious gang of late Pa Nwachukwu’s visit to the police, thereby leading to the attack on his household.”

After killing the man, the gang reportedly went inside the house searching for other family members.

While it was evident that the gang intended to eviscerate the entire members of the family, three of his children – Victor Onyedikachi Nwachukwu, Promise Rita Nwachukwu Yakubu and Blessing Nzebechi Nwachukwu escaped.

“I saw the three of them. They ran through the back door. Since that time, we have not seen them again”, the same eye-witness disclosed to our correspondent.

This particular incident has thrown the entire community and Aboh Mbaise Local Government in general, into mourning.

While some questioned the safety of police informants, other believed the incident shows the rot in the police force of the country.

Expressing his disappointment in the police, the chairman of Aboh Mabise LGA; Honourable Barrister Iheukwumere Henry Alaribe vowed a major crackdown on the unknown gunmen.

The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma promised a total clampdown and return of sanity to the community.

Latest news

Protect Oil Palm Host Communities; Address Spate Of Kidnapping, Violence, Govt Told

Published

4 months ago

February 26, 2025

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

A non-profit organization – African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), has appealed to the government at levels to ensure the protection of oil palm host communities and address the spate of kidnapping and violence in such areas.

AFRILAW further urged the governments to ensure that communities’ rights and privileges are respected in land deals with oil palm companies to avoid human rights violations.

Okereke Chinwike Esq,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AFRILAW, made the appeal in Benin on Tuesday at the Public Presentation and launching of ‘The Community-based Report on Human Rights Violations in the Palm Oil Supply Chain in Edo State.’

INFO DAILY reports that the event is part of AFRILAW activities under the “Promoting Human Rights in Palm Oil Supply Chain in Nigeria Project,” being implemented by AFRILAW in partnership with Zero Tolerance Initiative (ZTI) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with funding support from True Cost Initiative (TCI) USA.

According to the AFRILAW founder, addressing companies’ human rights violations from their operations in host communities require evidence-based research, hence the research and report presentation.

“The Report we are presenting today documents evidence of community rights violations by major oil palm companies operating in the state. The research is informed by the increasing spate of violence and community protests against the operations of oil palm companies operating in Edo state, and provides greater understanding of the prevailing cases of community and human rights violations and nature of conflicts,” he noted.

He, therefore, urged the government to
“put in place a mandatory binding CSR laws and guidelines for companies to ensure that community rights and privileges are protected.”

He further appealed to the government to “ensure effective implementation of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and set forth clear expectations for business enterprises regarding the importance of respecting the rights of human rights defenders, indigenous people and communities in Nigeria.”

On his part, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Anthony Ojukwu (SAN), described the report as essential, stressing that beyond normal advocacy, research-based advocacy is more efficient and effective.

Represented by Mrs Mary Okoh, Deputy Director, Legal/Focal Point Business and Human Rights, NHRC, Ojukwu said beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) organization should take seriously major issues of mainstreaming human rights into their operations.

“That means anyone who wants to set up a business must put into consideration the needs of the people and not what the organization or company needs. We have found out that this is where human rights violations start.

“Let them be part of the discussion and planning in the setting up of the business. Let them know what is at stake for them,” he said.

Goodwill messages were delivered by government agencies and ministries, while the presentation and launching also attracted security agencies including the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Customs Service, and the Nigeria Immigration Service among others.

Latest news

#EndBadGovernance: Police Manhunt Activists, Others, As Artist Cries Out For Help In Benin

Published

11 months ago

August 15, 2024

Editor

The suspect, Osarenkhoe Destiny Oghosa,

The Nigeria Police Force has launched a manhunt for suspected sponsors of the #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria protest that swept round the country last week.

Though police had arrested scores of such protesters across the country, many, especially vocal personalities and civil rights activists who have been criticising policies of the Tinubu administration in Nigeria have been penned down for arrest.

Also of interest to the police are those alleged to have massively produced and supplied Russian flags that were displayed during the protests, as they have vowed that none of the suspects would be spared.

It was gathered that undercover policemen are closing in on the social critics including one Osarenkhoe Destiny Oghosa, a vocal music artiste in Benin City.

This has raised fears and trepidation in that circle with many going underground for fear of being arrested by the police.

Oghosa is accused of masterminding an attempted jail break in the Benin metropolis similar to the End SARS protest in 2020, experience that resulted in the prison break and escape of prisoners and detainees alike.

Oghosa, in an interview with our correspondent, lamented that his music which focuses social justice, equality, societal ills among others in Nigeria, is now being as a crime.

He further lamented that despite several tactics to beat the security tab on him by agents of the government, he had faced persecution from invincible nocturnal groups.

Further lamenting how the government is hell bent in silencing voices speaking for the masses, Oghosa recalled how he was called at midnight to stop production of his song titled “OBI”, adding that he was seriously warned .

In a related development, Ahmed Bello, one of the suspect producers of the Russian flag hoist in some cities in Nigeria has been attested.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at the Strategic Communications Interagency Policy Committee joint press briefing.

He added that the police were on the trail of other suspects, especially the sponsors of the protest which led to the destruction of government properties in Kaduna and Kano States.

Adejobi said the suspects committed a treasonable felony, offence by waving a foreign country’s flag in Nigeria.

He said: “So, we need to set the record straight. It is important for us to know, so far so good we have been able to arrest some individuals who were engaging themselves in what I call a treasonable felony, while we are still going after their sponsors.

“To carry the flags of a foreign country in another country is a criminal offence. We have them arrested. Just this morning, we arrested one Ahmed Bello from Kano State fuor producing a large quantity of Russian flags given to young Nigerians to hoist for reasons best known to him.”

The police added that protesters in Benin City had made attempts to invade the DSS office in the state with the intention to free persons who in their opinion were being unjustly detained there-in forcing the law enforcement agencies to disperse them.