The abnormal cold and snowfall that hit the US state of Texas at the beginning of the year resulted in at least $ 600 million in losses for farmers, Bloomberg calculated.
This affected citrus production (230 million), livestock (228 million) and vegetable production (150 million). In particular, farmers in the Rio Grande Valley may have lost over 60 percent of their grapefruit harvest and virtually all of their oranges. In addition, due to the cold weather, newborn calves died, and a new offspring will not appear for several months.
Freezing temperatures hit Texas in early 2021, with temperatures dropping to minus 18 degrees Celsius in places. This led to an energy crisis, and energy companies found themselves on the brink of massive defaults. Due to abnormal cold weather and snowfall, their work was disrupted, so they had to urgently purchase energy from other suppliers against the background of a sharp rise in prices.
According to Chuck Watson of Enki Research, the disaster analysis center, the losses could be estimated at $ 80-90 billion.
Frosts also led to the fact that the Americans began to lack clean water. This problem is faced by 8.8 million people in Texas alone – almost a third of the region’s population. Also due to the worst frost in more than 30 years in Texas, there was a food crisis. Due to the closure of outlets, many shops and restaurants are forced to discard perishable and expired products, while experiencing difficulties in supplying new food.