Texas hospitals struggle with water pressure problems after extreme winter weather

Several Texas hospitals have had to transfer patients and delay elective procedures amid water pressure and heat issues caused by extreme winter weather, according to several published reports.

St. David’s South Austin Medical Center had to transfer some patients to other facilities or discharge them after the facility lost water pressure, according to a report from the Texas news station KXAN.

Hospital CEO David Huffstutler told KXAN the water goes into the facility’s boiler and so it is also losing heat. But Huffstutler added that other hospitals in the Austin area were affected by the freeze and couldn’t take a large number of patients.

The hospital also announced on Twitter that the St. David’s emergency center in Cedar Park, Texas, was closed.

Austin has been slammed by power losses due to the unexpected cold snap. The city issued a notice Wednesday calling for all residents to boil water before drinking or cooking.

Several facilities with Ascension Seton, a division of the Ascension hospital system, are experiencing the same problems. The system told KXAN it is rescheduling elective procedures at all sites to preserve its bed capacity.

Hospitals in other parts of the state are facing complications due to the freezing cold. The Houston Chronicle reported that several facilities are canceling surgeries and facing burst pipes from the extreme cold.

Houston Methodist hospitals canceled most of its urgent surgeries Wednesday as pipes burst at several of its facilities, the Chronicle said.