Who was Cristian Pavon? Texas boy, 11, who was thrilled to see snow first time in life dies in mobile home
A family in Texas is mourning the loss of an 11-year-old boy who died after their home lost power amid freezing temperatures. Cristian Pavon, who hailed from Honduras, hadn't seen snow before and was particularly excited when he witnessed it for the first time on Monday, ABC 13 reported. "He told his mom to take videos of him in the snow, to take pictures of him and that was the last time she has any videos of him," Jaliza Yera, Cristian's aunt, told the outlet.
But as the day progressed and nightfall approached, it became bitterly cold and hard to bear at the family's mobile home in Conroe. According to the report, the family lost power on February 16 night through February 17 morning and didn't have electricity that night either.
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"It was very cold and the stepdad said even the mom was shivering that night," Yera continued, before noting how Cristian's stepfather woke up and checked on the kids in the middle of the night. "He made sure they were okay. They were still breathing. He covered them up, patted them, and went back to sleep," Yera added.
Cristian was found unresponsive around 2.30 pm the following day, when his family called Yera and she went over to the house. The family had previously thought the child was sleeping. "We still did CPR until the fire department came and they took over and within a minute they told us it was too late. It was hard because I have kids myself," Yera said.
Cristian had no underlying conditions, his aunt told ABC 13. The family is awaiting the official cause of death but believes the cold was a contributing factor. "I'm heartbroken, I had never imagined any of this was going to happen," said Yera. She set up a GoFundMe page to help the family transport his body to Honduras because "his wish was to see his grandparents again and that is what the mother wants to fulfill."
"Due to low temperatures seen in the Conroe area, this family went without electricity for two days," the page read. "The early morning of February 16 dropped to 12 degrees. Cristian was found lifeless."
Over five hundred thousand Texans are stranded in the cold as they are left without power, while stores have run out of food items and hospitals have been evacuated. Meanwhile, officials have advised millions of people to boil their tap water prior to drinking as the freezing temperatures have compromised water filtration systems.
According to The Sun, the majority of outages in Texas have been caused due to rolling blackouts ordered by the state's energy agency the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Officials explained that equipment at the plants were unable to handle the freezing temperatures, and so the staff stopped providing more power in order to prevent the total collapse of the grid.
CEO of ERCOT Bill Magness said on Tuesday, February 16 that he had "no idea" when the supply would be restored. Meanwhile, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said that "things will likely get worse before they get better."