Texas mayor who resigned over blackout comments says his wife has also been fired

Tim Boyd caused severe backlash after telling residents he owed them ‘nothing’

The mayor of a Texas town who resigned after he told residents he owed them “nothing” amid the ongoing blackouts has said his wife has also been fired over the incident.

Tim Boyd, previously mayor of Colorado City, Texas, caused a severe backlash when he wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday that: “No one owes you [or] your family anything.”

He added: “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout!”. The post has since been deleted.

In a second Facebook post screen-grabbed and shared online, Mr Boyd said that he had resigned from his position while insisting that he “won’t deny for one minute” anything he said in the previous post.

Mr Boyd said he made the comments as a “private citizen,” and that he had resigned from his position days earlier. Mr Boyd is still listed on the government’s website as the district one mayor.

The former mayor also claimed his wife was “fired” after his comments.

Colorado city did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment regarding the reports.

In his initial post, Mr Boyd said people waiting in their homes to have their power restored were “lazy” and said that the “strong will survive and the weak will parish.”

The former mayor aimed his tirade toward people he thinks are “too lazy to get up and fend for themselves” while blaming the “socialist government”.

This week’s extreme weather has been blamed for the deaths of more than 30 people, with many dying in accidents while struggling to keep warm inside their homes.

Nearly a million customers were still suffering power outages across Texas on Thursday, with some people across the state have been without power for days on end due to harsh winter weather.

Texas’ inability to provide uninterrupted utility service to millions of residents is partly due to the state’s decision to operate its own power grid in an effort to avoid federal regulation.

The state’s governor Greg Abbott urged residents to shut off water to their homes, if possible, to prevent more busted pipes and preserve pressure in municipal systems.

“There’s really no letup to some of the misery people are feeling across that area,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, referring to Texas.

Utility crews are racing to restore power before another blast of snow and ice brings more chaos in places least equipped to deal with it.