HOUSTON — Houston (AFP) – Winter weather It brings many risks that people have to face to keep warm and safe.
These risks can include carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia, and frozen pipes that can burst and make homes unlivable.
Public safety officials and experts say there are multiple ways people can prepare themselves to avoid the dangers of winter weather and stay safe.
Risk is on the radar this week because millions of people in the United States It is set to experience heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain A “major winter storm” this weekend will affect the Midwest and East Coast as well as much of the southern United States, including Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service.
Officials say that during the winter storm, people should stay home. But home heating systems that run for hours can increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, as deadly fumes can be produced by furnaces, stoves and heaters, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Carbon monoxide can also be produced when people use portable generators or start cars in their garages to keep warm or charge their phones.
Because carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, people wouldn’t necessarily be aware of it, said Dr. Alex Harding, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
“The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can be really insidious. They can sneak up on patients and can range from just having a headache or maybe a little nausea to loss of consciousness and seizures,” he said.
The cold weather hitting the United States this weekend has the potential to be dangerous or deadly due to unsafe exposure to the elements.
Cold temperatures could creep up on people in parts of the country, including Texas, which has had a largely mild winter so far.
“Really cold temperatures and winds can make temperatures even colder, and as a result it can be cold air that could end up causing frostbite at a much faster rate or hypothermia at a much faster rate than normal,” said John Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
Prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures can put people at risk of hypothermia, a condition that occurs when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it.
“Hypothermia is definitely one of the biggest concerns, especially if we have any kind of certainty in terms of power grids or power outages,” Harding said.
The risk of hypothermia is greater for those who are outside and exposed to wind gusts who are not Wear appropriate clothing Or has clothes that get wet.
“If they have a safe, warm place where they can take shelter, where they have water and food and all those necessities… that will limit their exposure to those risks,” Harding said.
But vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities or the homeless may have problems finding a warm and safe place to stay.
Frozen pipes in a home during severe winter weather are a particular problem in parts of the South because this equipment is often located outside of buildings. But other parts of the country also have to deal with this problem.
Jose Parra, master plumber at Abacus Plumbing & Air Conditioning & The Houston Electric Company advises people to insulate any pipes exposed to the outside, turn off and drain sprinkler systems and allow faucets inside the home to drip during freezing temperatures so water can run through the pipes and protect them.
“A lot of what we fix, I would say 80% to 90%, could have been prevented with a little bit of work early on,” Barra said.
Experts admit that cold weather can be difficult Electric vehicles. But they say that with some planning and a little modification, owners should be able to travel pretty much normally.
Inside electric car batteries, lithium ions flow through a liquid electrolyte solution, producing electricity. But they travel more slowly through the electrolyte when it cools and do not release as much energy. This cuts off the range and can drain the battery faster.
In the short term, automakers will likely come up with better ways to protect battery life and warm it up for charging, Neil Dasgupta, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the University of Michigan, told The Associated Press. There is a new battery chemistry in development that is more resilient in cold weather.
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Associated Press writer Tom Krischer contributed to this report.