right now on "america this morning," the crisis in texas takes a new and desperate turn. problems with the water supply. reports overnight of hospitals being evacuated. people so desperate to stay warm, they're burning furniture. what we're learning about why the power grid failed and how long it could take to turn the lights back on. plus, snow on the move. next up, the northeast. we time out the worst conditions today. also breaking overnight, new evidence of the toll the coronavirus is taking. the cdc with new figures on life expectancy in the u.s., plus new york governor andrew cuomo now under fbi investigation for his response to the pandemic. history in space today.

nasa's perseverance rover set to land on mars just hours from now. the scientists behind the multibillion dollar project tell us what to expect. plus, serena williams' quest to make history falls short overnight. she talks about her future. we hear from the crew who rescued this man stranded at sea in the water for 36 hours in the middle of the atlantic. and if you miss going to your favorite bar because of the pandemic, we have a new option for you. good thursday morning, we begin with the bitter cold in texas. one official says they've gone from an emergency to a full blown disaster. >> the bitter cold is turning into bitter anger. millions of people spent the night without power, and now the water supply is a concern. even some hospitals have been forced to evacuate due to a lack of water pressure. >> people are so cold inside their homes, they're burning furniture. this man burned his baby gate to

stay warm. officials are hoping to make enough progress restoring power today that they can resume rolling power outages in places of widespread blackouts. >> the storm that caused all these problems is now heading north. nearly 1 million power outages are expected in the carolinas today because of the ice storm on the way. >> looking at the radar, snow will begin falling in washington, d.c. this morning where federal offices will be closed today, and then the snow arrives in philadelphia and new york city later this morning. up to 9 inches could fall in the big apple.inches later today in >> but we begin our coverage in the lone star state. this morning, the power crisis in texas entering its fourth painful day. >> we have been without power for 60 hours now. it's about 55 inside the house with the fireplace going. >> reporter: more than 2 million customers in the state without power overnight amid relentless winter storms and historically frigid temperatures. some areas have no time line on when power will be restored. officials in galveston county say it could be this weeke

>> we probably should plan on saturday being the earliest that we're going to have a full restoration of the electric power in galveston county, and i can't even promise that. >> reporter: texas reporting more power outages this week than during hurricane harvey, which devastated the houston region in 2017. some people are sleeping in their cars to stay warm including this grandmother and her family. >> we have no power, i got my family sleeping in the car, and they need to do something. people are going to die. >> reporter: officials warn the death toll will rise. >> there are many people, for example, who are in their homes and apartments. we may not know the full count, number until we are past this segment. >> reporter: governor greg abbott says power should be restored to 1 million homes by tonight, but more rolling blackouts are expected. tammy fareharbor says she hasn't had power since sunday. >> we did lose a deep freezer in

the garage full of food. we lost a refrigerator full of food. we're not able to flush the toilets. we can't wash our hands. we've been without water for more than 48 hours. >> reporter: in the meantime, more long lines outside grocery stores, which are running low on food, water and firewood. >> we got three kids at home, 4, 6 and 9. we're trying to keep the babies warm. >> reporter: in cities across the state, pipes are bursting freezing over. ceilings caving in like at this home in arlington. >> everything is flooded. >> reporter: houston, america's fourth largest city, urging residents wednesday to boil water. >> how can we boil water? we don't even have power. >> reporter: people lining up at a water faucet in this houston park to fill up buckets. one person saying it looked like a third world country. water outages and pressure mslss forcing some to transfer patients or send them home. travel treacherous. in austin this suv sliding out of control on the ice nearly hitting a woman. moments later another vehicle on the same street spinning out of control.

now the weather threat is on the move heading into the northeast. the carolinas bracing for ice this morning. from virginia to new england, snow. some areas of the northeast could get 9 inches of snow by the end of today. we'll take a closer look at the forecast in less than five minutes. authorities in texas were reportedly warned ten years ago that their power grid was vulnerable. texas is the only state with a deregulated power market, but bloomberg reports federal regulators warned that the power supply was vulnerable to severe cold and urged them to better protect pipelines and other equipment from freezing. the governor is demanding resignations at ercot, the nonprofit that manages the power grid, but the ceo insists their actions have improved the situation. begin ostas,e could had not have seen thwhe system down tho in the next fedays, becausoutages we have in >>eople e sod. getting threats. their names have been removed

from the ercot website. the crisis is having a ripple effect on the oil industry. output has fallen by millions of barrels per day. that means gas prices will be rising. the so-called cajun navy is set to help people in need across texas. it's a volunteer group of private boat owners who have responded during hurricanes. state officials have asked the group's help during the power crisis. breaking overnight new evidence that the toll the coronavirus pandemic is taking. the cdc is reporting a staggering drop in u.s. life expectancy. meanwhile, a new variant of the virus has reportedly been found. abc's alex presha joins us with the latest from washington now. alex, good morning. >> reporter: hey, kenneth, good morning to you. the race to vaccinate is now more important than ever. the cdc estimates that covid-19 deaths will actually decrease over the next four weeks, but with that said, we are on pace to have upwards of 559,000 liv lost by march 13th. this morning, new data showing

just how deadly this virus has been. the cdc reporting u.s. life expectancy dropped in the first half of 2020 shaving off at least one year of life. it's the biggest decrease since world war ii. >> that doesn't sound like a whole lot. the population level, this is a huge decline. >> reporter: for minorities the toll even greater. black americans losing nearly 3 years, hispanics, just shy of two, and with another round of winter storms barreling in, officials are warning weather is impacting vaccine deliveries. >> we want to make sure that as we've lost some time in states for people to get needles in arms, that our partners do all they can to make up that lost ground. >> reporter: experts now warning creating what they call a heavily mutated hybrid. >> in typical mutations, the virus will change in little ways as it replicates within a host. but this was what we call recombination, so that's when a host is infected with two

different variants of the virus, this is something that probably has happened up to this point and we just haven't really detected it. >> reporter: the more transmissible uk variant and that south african variant could cause cases to rise, and overnight maryland's governor announcing the state's first confirmed case of the brazil variant. new jersey's governor with this message to residents. >> first of all, folks, don't travel to brazil and south africa right now. i couldn't be clearer. >> reporter: the cdc also urging everyone to postpone travel, but the good news, the pfizer and moderna vaccines appear to offer protection against the new strains including the highly transmissible south african variant. and this morning sources tell abc news that the fbi is investigating new york governor andrew cuomo's coronavirus task force and its handling of nursing facilities early on in the pandemic. an aide conceded that they withheld death info from state lawmakers out of fear that the trump administration would use it against the state. kenneth and mona. >> cuomo insisting he based his

decisions on federal guidance at the time there. alex, thank you. a new york waitress has been fired after refusing to get the covid vaccine. bonnie jacobson said she wanted to hold off fearing getting it could hurt her chances of getting pregnant but the restaurant let her go telling her the vaccination was mandatory. former president trump is refusing to reveal whether he's planning another run for the white house. he called in to fox news and several other cable news shows to pay tribute to rush limbaugh. trump dodged questions about a 2024 presidential campaign saying, quote, it is too early to say. prince philip is expected to remain hospitalized for a few more days. queen elizabeth's 99-year-old husband was admitted after not feeling well, but sources say he is not suffering from the coronavirus. prince philip's most recent public appearance was last july. returning to our top story, the extreme cold, ice and snow on the move. here's thursday's forecast. more snow on the way for parts of texas on thursday.

this time it's san antonio. you could see a coating to an t early last week, do ha a warm-up coming but not until about, say, monday of next week. the snow and ice will spread meantime into the northeast, new york city by daybreak, boston by evening on thursday. we're going to have snow, we're going to have ice. let's talk about the ice. the worst of the freezing rain will be on thursday from charlottesville, virginia, down to knoxville, tennessee, as far north as new jersey and we're looking for 6 to 12 inches even right there in new york city. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin coskren. coming up, the new fee you could be paying next time you fly. but first, caught on camera, an officer finds a baby in the back of a stolen car. ssio er loo tod's stording and t

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with dual complete from unitedhealthcare... there's more for you. back now with this video from florida. police found an suv with a 1-year-old girl sleeping in the backseat just hours after a man stole it from the family's driveway. they say the suspect managed to snatch the car in less than a minute while the mom was unloading groceries. now the baby is okay, but the suspect is still on the run. we turn now to history being made in space today on the red planet. >> nasa's perseverance rover is expected to land on mars this afternoon. abc's megan tevrizian explains the mission and the biggest risk. >> reporter: this morning one giant leap toward finding out if there was life on mars. >> ignition, two, one and liftoff. >> reporter: nasa's perseveranc

planet today in one of their most ambitions missions yet. >> we have been thinking about the possibility of life on other planets for hundreds of years now, and this is our first opportunity to perhaps find it. >> reporter: the rover after traveling 300 million miles in seven months will touch down on an ancient lake called jezero, a site where ancient life may have been best preserved. >> based on everything we know about that environment, it was habitable. life should have been there, so i think we are very optimistic. i am very optimistic. >> reporter: the most dangerous part of the mission begins when the rover enters mars' atmosphere, a period known as the seven minutes of terror. >> we call it the seven minutes of terror because it takes approximately seven minutes for the spacecraft to make it from the top of the martian atmosphere to safely wheels on the ground. spacecraft has to manage that descent stage all by itself. >> reporter: it will all unfold as nasa is left in the dark with

a 12-minute communication delay meaning perseverance will have to navigate on its own. >> space is hard. when i started this work, over 65% of all the missions that went to mars had failed, had ended in disaster. >> reporter: abc's will ganss speaking overnight to a top nasa administrator. >> we don't know what the wind will be on mars. we don't know exactly how the plumes, you know, of the sky will interact with the surface. >> reporter: the mission behind the $2.7 billion landing is to collect rock samples and bring them back to earth to look for signs of microbial life. >> if we can find evidence of life on mars, then we're going to realize that we're a bigger part of the life story. it's not just an earth story. it's a universe story. >> reporter: perseverance, roughly the size of a car, is the fifth and most advanced rover nasa has sent to mars. kenneth, mona. >> exciting. megan, thank you. we'll bring you complete

coverage of the mars landing on our streaming channel abc newslive beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern. coming up, a big announcement from tim tebow. but first the incredible rescue at sea. a man stranded in the water for 36 hours. what we're learning about his terrifying ordeal. eaten healthier. shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible. good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but no matter how healthy you feel your immune system declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. so what can protect you? shingrix protects. for the first time ever, you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site,

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3,500 of them. we turn now to florida and a remarkable rescue at sea. a man who was stranded in the water for 36 hours is alive and well, thanks to some guys who were just out fishing. this morning we're hearing from the crew of this charter boat out looking for blue marlin when they spotted something in the water 20 miles off ft. pierce, florida. >> i told the guys that maybe we found something to go fishing on. they got rods ready downstairs. >> reporter: but captain chase cornell soon realized it wasn't a fish. >> as we got closer, i saw the gentleman raise his hand up and start waving at me. >> the next thing you know, chase is upstairs saying, it's a person, like help him, like it's a person. >> reporter: their fishing trip turned into a rescue mission. >> he was wearing a life jacket, but he was clinging to the boat. en in the water for 36 hours after capsizing in bad weather and had floated more than 100 miles north losing the six other people who were with him. >> we got to the boat and pulled him on and started taking care of him.

>> he was very, very weak, so we got him a bunch of fluids, food, anything we could do for him. >> reporter: the gas from the sunken boat had burned his clothes and skin, so they cleaned him up with soap and kept him warm until the coast guard could arrive 45 minutes later and rush him to the hospital. >> i was just kind of doing my job and was able to be in the right place at the right time, and i was just thankful to be able to do that. for us to cross paths, it was just nothing short of a miracle. >> a miracle, indeed. the man is said to be recovering well. the guys who saved him hope to reunite with him soon. as for the six others, the coast guard says it spent more than 140 hours looking for them before suspending the search. travelers are facing yet another fee as airlines struggle to stay afloat. if you buy jetblue's cheapest tickets, you will now have to pay extra for space in the overhead bin, otherwise you'll be limited to one item small enough to fit under the seat. the change takes effect in july. united airlines has done the same. tion.

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i'm done. >> one of the greatest. later williams posted a statement thanking her fans. next a new option for people who miss their favorite bar during the pandemic. >> this has nothing to do with drinking. it's a website called, i miss my bar, and it plays sounds you might hear when you're out for a cocktail. >> they include the sound of bartenders working and drinks being served. cheers. next an ancient discovery in siberia. >> scientists now have evidence that mammoths roamed the earth more than a million years ago, long before giving rise to the woolly mammoth and found teeth leading to what appears to be the oldest dna ever sequence. >> the oldest is 1.6 million years old. finally a new option for your next vacation. the house made famous by "the silence of the lambs" is now a bed and breakfast. >> in the movie buffalo bill tortured his victims in that house outside pittsburgh. the owner may add a replica torture chamber in the basement and you can have all the

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checking the top stories, power officials in texas were hoping to make significant progress overnight restoring power for millions of people. some are sleeping in their cars to stay warm. some hospitals have evacuated vulnerable patients because of power and water supply problems. bursting pipes due to frigid temperatures are adding to those problems. nearly 7 million texans were told to boil their water because of service disruptions. meanwhile, the storm is bringing more snow and ice from the carolinas to new england. new york city could get nine inches later today. the players at the center of the gamestop frenzy on wall street last month capitol hill today including the ceo of the trading app robinhood. lawmakers are investigating the mayhem that led stocks to skyrocket then plunge. lawmakers in utah have approved a bill banning transgender athletes from participating in girls sports. on sex. if srts bad

looking back at the life of rush limbaugh. he was a college dropout who made $85 million a year. >> president trump awarded him the medal of freedom last year. back in 1993 he spoke to barbara walters about being the voice for the right. take a look. >> reporter: rush limbaugh has a lot to be satisfied about. he has the most successful talk show in radio history, an audience of over 18 million a week of people on 626 stations. >> we are up to date, 209 of the clinton presidency, which has us all in its evil clutches. >> reporter: so if rush limbaugh is so popular, why do so many people love to hate him? >> the fact that he's constantly knocking clinton from day one. >> anti-anything that's good. he's the devil. >> political correctness, how do you feel about that? >> just another word for totalitarianism. it's just a new name for

liberalism. >> reporter: his competitor larry king said he is a zealot who made a career out of bashing people. "nightline's" ted koppel who had limbaugh as a guest views him differently. >> he is extremely articulate. rush limbaugh is, i guess, to the left, he is sort of like an aching tooth, they can't stand him, but they can't leave him alone, and to the right he's like cotton candy. they just keep gobbling him up. >> will you tell us what it is you basically believe. >> i'm a mainstream conservative. i don't consider myself a right wing although i have come up with a third name, ultra conservative rush limbaugh. >> do you mind? >> no, i think it's part of the territory. i think what i do is shine the light of truth on things then the reaction is, well, let's label this guy something that will discredit him, let's call him a bigot. let's call him a racist, ultra this or that. >> do you care? does it hurt? >> i've looked at myself as a harmless, lovable little fuzz ball so now -- >> no kidding. >> yeah, i'm just touchy-feely. i'm not a threat to anybody. >> good to see miss walters

there. and have a great day. right now on "america this morning," the crisis in texas takes a new and desperate turn. problems with the water supply. reports overnight of hostaind. people so desperate to stay warm, they're burning furniture. what we're learning about why the power grid failed and how long it could take to turn the lights back on. plus, the bitter cold. ice and snow on the move. next up, the northeast. we time out the worst conditions today. also breaking overnight, new evidence of the toll the coronavirus is taking. the cdc with new figures on life expectancy in the u.s., plus new york governor andrew cuomo now under fbi investigation for his response to the pandemic.