USA - Up to 15 million Texans remain without heat and electricity as temperatures across the state are well below freezing. Another round of winter weather is battering parts of the state Wednesday morning, as many Texans have been without electricity since Sunday are desperately scrambling to find shelters. Weather related deaths have already been reported as one of the nation's wealthiest states can barely supply electricity to its residents. The unprecedented polar vortex split, dumping Arctic air down to the Gulf of Mexico, resulted in frozen wellheads that impeded the flow of natgas to power stations, triggering electric shortages as demand overwhelmed the grid. Still on Wednesday, the power grid operator warned 40% of generation capacity remains offline. The cascading effect of blackouts and controlled power outages has resulted in some critical infrastructure such as cellular networks and water treatment plants going offline. The speed at which one of the nation's wealthiest states transforms into a third-world country is simply stunning.