US Texas running out of food as weather disrupts supply

Houston, Feb 19 (IANS) As many in the US state of Texas experience power outage, the state is now running out of food with the disruption of supply chain, local media has reported.The Texas Tribune published a story on Wednesday saying that across the state, people are using up supplies they had stockpiled and losing more as items start to spoil in dark refrigerators, the Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.With grocery stores across the state shuttered for power outage, supermarkets that remain open have seen supplies dwindle.In a local H.E.B. supermarket, empty shelves were seen on Wednesday in the bottled water section. Bread and canned food were also in short supply as people tried their luck to stockpile in the shop that stayed open.In the state capital of Austin, a local resident told The Texas Tribune that a Target supermarket was completely out of food on Wednesday, with no sign of additional shipments arriving or employees restocking shelves.Across the state, school districts have halted meal distributions to students for the next several days.Meanwhile, fruit and vegetable crops in the southern part of the state have frozen due to the severe weather, said the media report. Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said dairy farmers around the state are pouring $8 million worth of milk down the drain every day because they can't get it to dairies.According to Miller, livestock growers across Texas are out of feed, while a lack of available natural gas has caused some chickens and calves to freeze to death.
--IANS int/rs