A Texas mayor resigned after telling people it was their own fault if they froze when power went out in the deadly winter storms

• A Texas city mayor resigned after saying it was people’s fault if they froze in the deadly storm.
• Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd said people shouldn’t expect help and “Only the strong will survive.”
• The storm has killed more than 20 people and cut off power to millions.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The mayor of a Texas city resigned after telling people that it was their own fault if they were suffering in the vast power outage that struck the state amid a historic cold snap.

Tim Boyd, the mayor of Colorado City, Texas, accused his constituents of looking for a “handout” as power went out across the state. He encouraged residents with no water to “think outside the box to survive.”

The outburst came in a since-deleted Facebook post that included a number of grammatical errors.

It said: “No one owes you are your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink of swim it’s your choice!”

He said later in the post: “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don’t have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe.

"If you have no water you deal without and think outside the box to survive and supply water to your family.

"If you are sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because your lazy is direct result of your raising.

"Only the strong will survive and the weak will parish."

Here is the full post:

—ET Breaking News (@breaking_et) February 17, 2021

At least 20 people had died in the storms as of early Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

Boyd resigned on Tuesday. According to Fox News, he said in a Facebook post that "I would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help to be left to fend for themselves.

"I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout. I apologize for the wording and some of the phrases that were used!"

Freezing temperatures across many US states have left people battling ice and snow, and have caused severe power outages.

Texas is seeing some of its coldest temperatures in more than 30 years, the BBC reported.

More than four million homes and businesses in Texas were without power on Tuesday.

Some of those who died were people trying to get warm. Houston police said that a woman and girl were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning after trying to use their car to generate heat.