Preparation: Your responsibility?

[Shoeless]

29 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I forgot the house architecture is different.

The architecture has nothing to do with it. It's not safe to run a grill in any house. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

23 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

The architecture has nothing to do with it. It's not safe to run a grill in any house. 

Yes. Or garage - even with the door open.  Every year we have reports of someone (and their family) dying because of running a grill in an enclosed or even semi-enclosed space. 

 

[Pam in CT]

31 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

The architecture has nothing to do with it. It's not safe to run a grill in any house. 

Yeah.  We have a propane burner/ griddle thing that's meant for camping, that we haul out during outages, and I'm afraid to use THAT inside the house, the no-grills-indoors training is so deep. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, that I'm afraid of -- it's propane, people use propane for their regular real-life built-in stoves -- but old habits die hard.

[Bootsie]

I grew up in the south and did not own a pair of long underwear until I was an adult.  I do not know that my mother has ever owned a pair.  I remember the first time I ever saw any at a Walmart (it was something I had only read about in books or seen in movies).  

Now, mainly because of travel, I own long underwear, snow boots, and wool socks.  I had not even gotten the box down off of the shelf that had my turtlenecks in them because  it had been such a mild winter until this week.  If I were a parent of a young child in the south my priority this past year would NOT have been shopping for long underwear and other winter items that fit this year in the midst of a pandemic, when we probably would not be using them.

in November 2019, I went to the local Target to try to find yarn--no yarn in the store, but they had an entire aisle devoted to snow shovels and ice scrapers.  At first I thought it was a Christmas decoration aisle.  I had never seen anything like it.  Someone really messed up in inventory control.  At the end of February 2020, the same inventory was sitting there--haven't checked since because I haven't been in due to COVID.  Maybe they are now selling some of that stuff.

[Shoeless]

I love poking fun at Texans who think anything below 70 degrees is "chilly", (I married one), but what's happening here goes beyond "Texans can't handle cold".

Do y'all remember at the start of the pandemic when people panic bought all the bottled water and freaked out about generators, and everyone (myself included), said "Your municipal water supply is not going to shut down. You will have electricity. Don't be silly". 

Well, here we are. 

Texas is a HUGE state.  There are more square miles in Texas than there are in all of France. If all of France lost electricity and water services for days during 10 degree weather during a pandemic, would you be questioning whether the French had thought to buy coats or fleece pants? Or talking about the architecture (???), like cathedral ceilings are why everyone's homes are freezing cold right now? 

Of course not. You'd be wondering what the heck happened to the French government and infrastructure, and why the heck no one in government did anything to mitigate the disaster. 

Again, Texas is a big state and the housing varies by location. I can't speak for what the houses look like in Amarillo vs Dallas vs Houston vs San Antonio. I'm sure in some part of the state there is what's being referred to here as a "typical Texas house", with cathedral ceilings, tile floors, and carefully placed windows to maximize cross breezes. Where *I* live? It's mostly ranch style houses, because it's too darn expensive to cool the second floor of a two story house in the summer.  I don't see a lot of cathedral ceilings here.  Everyone has central air, so the placement of windows is irrelevant.  You're not going to be opening the windows to catch a breeze when it's 105 outside. The floors are tile because tile is cheap and low maintenance. 

[YaelAldrich]

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

Well, like I said--lived here my whole life and don't know a single person who isn't prepared for winter weather and well able to deal with it. I guess we run with different types of people.

That 100 miles does make a difference weather-wise. I grew up near Pawz and my husband nearer to HSMominAZ. It almost never snows where HS lives, ices up maybe 2-3 times a year. Where I'm from it snows a couple times a year and ices over 2ish times a year. Hurricanes the opposite. 

[Pawz4me]

17 minutes ago, YaelAldrich said:

That 100 miles does make a difference weather-wise. I grew up near Pawz and my husband nearer to HSMominAZ. It almost never snows where HS lives, ices up maybe 2-3 times a year. Where I'm from it snows a couple times a year and ices over 2ish times a year. Hurricanes the opposite. 

Yes, great point. "The south" is a huge area, and even a few miles can make a big difference weather wise. Technically both @ktgrokand I are in "the south" but she's about as far south of me as NYC is to the north. The weather where I am doesn't have a ton in common with either place. And just as the 100 miles' difference in where I am and where @Homeschool Mom in AZis means a weather difference . . . I could go another 100 miles up towards Boone/the high country of NC, where blizzard conditions aren't uncommon in the winter and snow skiing/snow tubing is a huge part of the economy. You better believe everybody there has tons of cold weather clothes.  Blizzards and skiing, and yet they're in "the south." It's really hard to generalize, especially when you consider, as @MissLemonjust posted, that Texas alone is as large as France.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Pawz4me

[YaelAldrich]

2 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Yes, great point. "The south" is a huge area, and even a few miles can make a big difference weather wise. Technically both @ktgrokand I are both in "the south" but she's about as far south of me as NYC is to the north. The weather where I am doesn't have a ton in common with either place. And just as the 100 miles' difference in where I am and where @Homeschool Mom in AZmeans a weather difference . . . I could go another 100 miles up towards Boone/the high country of NC and blizzard conditions aren't uncommon in the winter and snow skiing/snow tubing is a huge industry. You better believe everybody there has tons of cold weather clothes. It's really hard to generalize about "the south" (especially when you consider, as @MissLemonjust posted, that Texas alone is as large as France.

I happily now own a down filled coat but never owned one until we moved to Indiana. Piedmont NC cold is (usually) nothing like midwestern cold. I should have had one when we lived in Boston but I survived with a regular coat (we live in Boston now).  

We were just in NC at my parents and my in-laws and usually in February is high 40s- 50s in the day. It wasn't this week for sure!  Ice is way worse than snow ever is.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

It's 3-4 months a year here. Every year.

Yeah, for that, I'd invest. I wouldn't want to be stuck inside THAT long! Or I'd move south, lol. 

[Pawz4me]

Just now, YaelAldrich said:

Ice is way worse than snow ever is.

Yep. You know how everybody here is when snow is forecast--you stock up on groceries and it's kind of a happy/giddy vibe. I told DH yesterday that it's totally different when people are stocking up for an ice storm. It's more of an "Ugh!! Ick!!" vibe and everybody walking around with the Grinch face. 😉 

[Bootsie]

14 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

I love poking fun at Texans who think anything below 70 degrees is "chilly", (I married one), but what's happening here goes beyond "Texans can't handle cold".

Do y'all remember at the start of the pandemic when people panic bought all the bottled water and freaked out about generators, and everyone (myself included), said "Your municipal water supply is not going to shut down. You will have electricity. Don't be silly". 

Well, here we are. 

Texas is a HUGE state.  There are more square miles in Texas than there are in all of France. If all of France lost electricity and water services for days during 10 degree weather during a pandemic, would you be questioning whether the French had thought to buy coats or fleece pants? Or talking about the architecture (???), like cathedral ceilings are why everyone's homes are freezing cold right now? 

Of course not. You'd be wondering what the heck happened to the French government and infrastructure, and why the heck no one in government did anything to mitigate the disaster. 

Again, Texas is a big state and the housing varies by location. I can't speak for what the houses look like in Amarillo vs Dallas vs Houston vs San Antonio. I'm sure in some part of the state there is what's being referred to here as a "typical Texas house", with cathedral ceilings, tile floors, and carefully placed windows to maximize cross breezes. Where *I* live? It's mostly ranch style houses, because it's too darn expensive to cool the second floor of a two story house in the summer.  I don't see a lot of cathedral ceilings here.  Everyone has central air, so the placement of windows is irrelevant.  You're not going to be opening the windows to catch a breeze when it's 105 outside. The floors are tile because tile is cheap and low maintenance. 

I don't know that I would be wondering what happened to the French government if there was a week of below freezing temperatures along the French Rivera.  I think there would be discussion of how unusual the situation was and what an unexpected crisis it was.  

I think much of the discussion about architecture is explaining to those who don't live in this climate why setting your thermostat at 55 degrees and blocking off your room with the wood burning fireplace while you sit around layered with wool socks, long underwear, and wool sweaters is not a reasonable answer for many people in Texas.  When Boston or New York City experiences temps in the upper 90s and there is concern about health issues in the heat, it would be ridiculous for Texans to say "well why don't you just go jump in your backyard pool to cool down."

Although we may not have our windows set up for cross breezes because of central AC, we also don't have major windows facing west.  And those that do face west either have a patio or tress (which still have leaves on them) to provide shade. DD who has lived in the Alps for the past several years keeps wanting to open the blinds to let the sun in--I have to keep telling her to keep them closed to keep the warmth in.  

After living in Texas, DH moved to Canada for a few years.  He said that he would burn up by how warm everyone kept their house and he would have to wear short sleeves to work because the building was kept so warm.  He said he would be out and about and the Canadians would complain that it was too cold.   

[fairfarmhand]

4 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

 

I think much of the discussion about architecture is explaining to those who don't live in this climate why setting your thermostat at 55 degrees and blocking off your room with the wood burning fireplace while you sit around layered with wool socks, long underwear, and wool sweaters is not a reasonable answer for many people in Texas.  When Boston or New York City experiences temps in the upper 90s and there is concern about health issues in the heat, it would be ridiculous for Texans to say "well why don't you just go jump in your backyard pool to cool down."

 

And reason number 321 why I don't like houses with open floor plans. They're just chillier in the winter than those that have walls and lower ceilings.

[ktgrok]

6 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

 

Although we may not have our windows set up for cross breezes because of central AC, we also don't have major windows facing west.  And those that do face west either have a patio or tress (which still have leaves on them) to provide shade. 

Well, in theory. My cruddy house built by idiots has ZERO shade on the western side and BAKES in the summer. Even with the A/C running full blast we can't get it below 80 or 81 INSIDE during the hottest part of summer. Meanwhile, the first owners planted a whole row of oak trees in the south, OVER THE POOL!!! So right now I'm cleaning the pool filter daily to get the danged oak pollen out or I'll burn out the pump, plus scooping leaves out of the (screened) pool, plus the pool is shaded by the house on one side, the fence on another two sides, and these danged trees on the last side. So takes forever to warm up in the spring. 

WHY couldn't they have put trees on the side that gets the danged afternoon sun???

[TheReader]

2 hours ago, aggie96 said:

@TheReader, I wonder if we live in the same neighborhood? You are describing our exact experience. Except our HEB, Waffle House, and Bucees were open limited hours but very difficult to get to.

Oh, I wonder....

2 hours ago, aggie96 said:

Re: Community helping each other

That is most definitely happening here. I think Houston has always been good at coming together after disasters to set things right again. Yesterday and today, people have been cleaning out any pipe and fittings and pipe glue they can find to contribute to a big stockpile free for use. Handy-neighbors-turned-DIYplumbers have been going from one bust to another repair (even if only temporary) burst pipes. A couple of residents are patrolling the neighborhood streets regularly with channel locks and meter sticks to help quickly shut off water at the source as pipes burst to minimize damage. One resident licensed plumber has been going around the clock. People volunteered to take his phone calls and help organize supply trips for him just to keep his expertise where it was needed (not standing in line at Lowes etc). Some people have offered to run laundry at their home for those that everything is soaked. It'll be costly, but it will all be fixed.

The authorities over the power grids dropped the ball. There was nothing "rolling" about the power grid. Water was never supposed to be gone. And then gas disappeared too?! And our water company was kind enough to send out an email 24 hours in to the cutoff that they would work on restoring water after they felt it was safe enough for their crews to move around and to Stay Safe! No mention of what was going wrong. All the while, HEB was open. Emergency crews were moving around. Idiot "hold-my-beer-watch-this-on-ice" drivers were around. Information is key. People can prepare if given information. And now it's being reported that ERCOT issued a statement warning that prices were going up to mitigate this event?

You would think that the insurance companies would be all over ERCOT because it's going to cost them too, and their pockets are very deep for making things happen.

...this does not sound like my specific neighborhood (we are still with water and no pipes bust) but I am sure we're likely fairly close. I'm happy to PM you if you like 🙂 It would be fun to make a local connection, especially with an Aggie family (oldest is an Aggie). 

My HEB is open today, and I think did have some random hours during this event, and our Waffle House was never opened that I'm aware of, which is weird 'cause the gas station, Wendy's, and Lowe's next to them were....but maybe they were and I just didn't pay attention. They've been struggling since Covid so......not sure.

[KungFuPanda]

I'm kind of wondering how many preppers are gleefully pulling out all of their just-in-case equipment.  This must be their Super Bowl. 

[Arcadia]

16 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I'm kind of wondering how many preppers are gleefully pulling out all of their just-in-case equipment.  This must be their Super Bowl. 

If it is just power or gas outage for a day or two maybe. Add on water damage,  and loosing both power and gas, and the novelty wears off fast. 

[Pen]

On 2/17/2021 at 8:16 AM, BlsdMama said:

This will be a heated topic, I suspect, so I’m hoping we can discuss respectfully. 
 

I read this today:https://www.kut.org/austin/2021-02-16/youre-on-your-own-thousands-of-austinites-without-power-try-to-survive-after-state-electric-grid-fails

 

 And this jumped out at me: 
“Gunter said she thinks state and local governments need to start preparing for extreme weather.”

So, from personal experience with the derecho in Iowa this year, there was simply no way to plan for it. It was horrific and no one could have foreseen the damage that was left in the wake of an hour of hurricane force straight line winds. We were five miles from the edge of some of the highest recorded wind speeds and sustained little damage, but lost electric for four days. It was in the middle of summer, so cooking, being outside, etc., was decent. But we had no water (rural well) and that could have been a major problem. But, in retrospect, my thoughts were maybe *we* need a plan to run the well pump - emergency generator or ?? 

 

 

we lose electric where I am many winters and sometimes have for as long as 3+ weeks.

last summer also lost it due to fires, but usually it’s winter time ice, snow, wind that does it

I gradually have done more and more to deal with it - starting with camping/emergency Mylar blankets and adding more recently a Woodstove. 
 

I don’t have the ability to run well.

the starting surge for a well takes a lot of power. Some people in

my area have generators capable of doing that but in bad circumstances u can’t get gasoline / propane for them

if the well is shallow enough a hand pump back up might be possible. 
 

we pretty much just go to “sponge baths” when power goes out and hand wash underwear. Jeans etc just get reworn till power is restored. 
 

We have some 5 gal bottles with drinking water and large garbage can with wash up toilet flush etc water.  plus if it’s snowy, melted snow can be used. 
 

friends of my son have a whole house generator, which they run for just an hour or so per day during outages to try to keep things going, including ability to take quick showers.  It would take a major amount of stored fuel (itself a potential risk for fire etc depending on the type of disaster and type of fuel ) to keep generator going for significant amounts of time day after day. 

[LinRTX]

On 2/17/2021 at 2:45 PM, Sdel said:

Our fireplace has been invaluable in stabilizing the heat in our house.  We are crammed into the living room with high peaked ceilings, open floor plan, tile floors, north facing door and leaky windows.....but the fireplace had kept the temps stable for when the central heat comes every 3 hours.  Otherwise our indoor heat drops like a stone once the power stops.   It got stuffy and smoky smelling late last night so tonight we are just going to burn one log going into dark to bump up the house for tempos into the teens.

Our fireplace was warming our house somewhat also. It would have been nice to have the heat on every 3 hours. We were out 9, on 5, out 18, on 1, then out for 30. No water, no heat, just misery. We had a freezer full of food and a stocked pantry. We ate from the pantry. We also have an outdoor grill, but the winds were blowing at about 20mph and the temp was about 3 -- no way were we standing outside cooking. And yes we had saved water before the power outage, but it only goes so far.

[Moonhawk]

So, not knocking personal responsibility. There are different levels that people can do due to situation, storage and affordability; what you can do to prepare for the expected situation is the level to which you are responsible for.

But, it's interesting we are ok with saying that families should be responsible for preparing for multiple facets of an emergency -- water, food, clothing, heating and warmth, escape routes, means to evacuate with full tanks of gas, living without water or electric or gas, and maybe even set up backup electric -- but are glazing over a company responsible for just one: their own equipment.

They knew this was coming, even if not the exact day or week, this isn't a once in a lifetime event; it happened only 10 years ago, and is likely to happen again in the next 10. They can't avoid every catastrophe, but more mitigation was probably possible. 

And unlike a family, where buying a size 10 jacket this year "just in case" won't help you next year (ie, a lot of your prep has an expiration on it), the companies very likely could have done small steps over time to spread out their preparations.

And we start to hone in on the details instead of the bigger picture of if this should have happened in the first place, or in this way. Asking why people don't have a backup winter wardrobe of clothes for each current age/size, that they literally have never worn before "just in case." Or X weeks worth of drinkable water. Enough wood (and a place to burn it) for the entire duration. Or whatever bar we personally feel is most important. Even if the person has a generator, but only enough fuel for 12 hours, well, they should have been prepped for 24! 

I think what this type of criticism is actually about us wanting to have a sense of control. That if we were in a bad situation, we would be prepared and able to handle it. If 5 days of supplies wasn't enough, we would have known to have 7. If our electric went out, we would have been prepared with gas heaters. If our gas went out, we would have known to have a bunch of blankets. If our blankets got soaked by bursting pipes, we would have had an inflatable life rafts for our living room. It's about wanting to feel like we could succeed and control our own fate, not about what is actually reasonable to expect. 

 

[Arcadia]

26 minutes ago, Moonhawk said:

But, it's interesting we are ok with saying that families should be responsible for preparing for multiple facets of an emergency -- water, food, clothing, heating and warmth, escape routes, means to evacuate with full tanks of gas, living without water or electric or gas, and maybe even set up backup electric -- but are glazing over a company responsible for just one: their own equipment.

I don’t think everyone is glazing over how crappy/irresponsible the utilities companies are behaving. I think it is more of if the utilities companies are already notorious and the state governments behave like indulgent parents to those utilities companies, then the consumers have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. 

[Bootsie]

50 minutes ago, Moonhawk said:

So, not knocking personal responsibility. There are different levels that people can do due to situation, storage and affordability; what you can do to prepare for the expected situation is the level to which you are responsible for.

But, it's interesting we are ok with saying that families should be responsible for preparing for multiple facets of an emergency -- water, food, clothing, heating and warmth, escape routes, means to evacuate with full tanks of gas, living without water or electric or gas, and maybe even set up backup electric -- but are glazing over a company responsible for just one: their own equipment.

They knew this was coming, even if not the exact day or week, this isn't a once in a lifetime event; it happened only 10 years ago, and is likely to happen again in the next 10. They can't avoid every catastrophe, but more mitigation was probably possible. 

And unlike a family, where buying a size 10 jacket this year "just in case" won't help you next year (ie, a lot of your prep has an expiration on it), the companies very likely could have done small steps over time to spread out their preparations.

And we start to hone in on the details instead of the bigger picture of if this should have happened in the first place, or in this way. Asking why people don't have a backup winter wardrobe of clothes for each current age/size, that they literally have never worn before "just in case." Or X weeks worth of drinkable water. Enough wood (and a place to burn it) for the entire duration. Or whatever bar we personally feel is most important. Even if the person has a generator, but only enough fuel for 12 hours, well, they should have been prepped for 24! 

I think what this type of criticism is actually about us wanting to have a sense of control. That if we were in a bad situation, we would be prepared and able to handle it. If 5 days of supplies wasn't enough, we would have known to have 7. If our electric went out, we would have been prepared with gas heaters. If our gas went out, we would have known to have a bunch of blankets. If our blankets got soaked by bursting pipes, we would have had an inflatable life rafts for our living room. It's about wanting to feel like we could succeed and control our own fate, not about what is actually reasonable to expect. 

 

There were power problems 10 years ago, but the weather conditions now are different than 10 years ago.  Record low for DFW then was 15 degrees In DFW, on Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday, we had lows that were below that record--down to at least zero.  The HIGH on Tuesday was 12--3 degrees LOWER than the record low of 2011.  The high on Sunday was 16 (only 1 degree higher than the previous record low) and only 18 on Tuesday.  So, basically we spent three straight days colder than the RECORD LOW.  

And this pattern is over a much larger part of the state for a longer period of time than 2011.  San Antonio was not above freezing from Saturday through Tuesday, but are again experiencing freezing temperatures, snow, and sleet today.  

I don't know what was or was not done regarding any recommendations after 2011, but it is possible that if something like the 2011 situation was planned for it would not have been adequate for this particular situation (which I think is much different than a once-in-a-decade situation).

[Carol in Cal.]

51 minutes ago, Moonhawk said:

So, not knocking personal responsibility. There are different levels that people can do due to situation, storage and affordability; what you can do to prepare for the expected situation is the level to which you are responsible for.

But, it's interesting we are ok with saying that families should be responsible for preparing for multiple facets of an emergency -- water, food, clothing, heating and warmth, escape routes, means to evacuate with full tanks of gas, living without water or electric or gas, and maybe even set up backup electric -- but are glazing over a company responsible for just one: their own equipment.

They knew this was coming, even if not the exact day or week, this isn't a once in a lifetime event; it happened only 10 years ago, and is likely to happen again in the next 10. They can't avoid every catastrophe, but more mitigation was probably possible. 

And unlike a family, where buying a size 10 jacket this year "just in case" won't help you next year (ie, a lot of your prep has an expiration on it), the companies very likely could have done small steps over time to spread out their preparations.

And we start to hone in on the details instead of the bigger picture of if this should have happened in the first place, or in this way. Asking why people don't have a backup winter wardrobe of clothes for each current age/size, that they literally have never worn before "just in case." Or X weeks worth of drinkable water. Enough wood (and a place to burn it) for the entire duration. Or whatever bar we personally feel is most important. Even if the person has a generator, but only enough fuel for 12 hours, well, they should have been prepped for 24! 

I think what this type of criticism is actually about us wanting to have a sense of control. That if we were in a bad situation, we would be prepared and able to handle it. If 5 days of supplies wasn't enough, we would have known to have 7. If our electric went out, we would have been prepared with gas heaters. If our gas went out, we would have known to have a bunch of blankets. If our blankets got soaked by bursting pipes, we would have had an inflatable life rafts for our living room. It's about wanting to feel like we could succeed and control our own fate, not about what is actually reasonable to expect. 

 

I don't read it this way, myself.

I think that the question is, what do others do that I could consider to prep for this kind of thing?  Maybe I'll get some ideas.

So, for instance, I used to ski avidly, although I was no expert. Then I had to stop for quite a while and the sport moved on, and I don't think that they would let me on the lifts with my old skiis anymore, nor do I think I could ski on the deep side cut ones they use now without lessons.  Maybe not even then, LOL.  

However, one thing I retain from those days is the idea that having ski clothes around is very sensible, so even though I really don't use them much at all, I try to make sure that I always have nice warm ski pants that fit me in my wardrobe.  Ditto snow boots and a ski jacket, which I actually end up using a fair amount.  I have not thought of this as a frantic prepper thing, but more of a 'if I have to be outside or in a broken down car in the cold waiting for help these could be quite important' kind of thing.  These would also be extremely helpful in the current Texas circumstance where indoor temperatures are actually low enough to be dangerous in some areas.  

I entirely agree that there is a societal/government preparedness issue in the mix--a big one.  But part of life right now is trying to improve your odds of a combination of government and individual and community action will mitigate real and unusual dangers.  And we generally as a group have more information and ideas about how to help individually or personally generously than we do about how to go about changing energy policy or building codes, so this is what we CAN talk about well.

 

[Terabith]

5 hours ago, TheReader said:

our Waffle House was never opened that I'm aware of, which is weird 

Holy cow!  Waffle House openings are a legitimate scale of disaster!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index

[aggie96]

I'll add that I am incredibly grateful for all the information shared on the Hive about this insane weather event. I've learned so much even if I never really have a realistic need to implement the arctic tips and tricks . I never get tired of learning about other parts of the country and how people live and work through tough situations. And I never get tired of sharing how Texas can sometimes feel like another planet (in so many ways). I try really, really hard to stay out of echo-chambers and "see" the world through other people. As a family we are trying to visit all 50 states before oldest child leaves for college. These discussions for me are just another facet of that.

SO thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have been, as always, a safe place for me to freak out, poke fun, and learn. This frozen Texan loves y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aggie96]

LOL! I'm now getting NorthFace ads on FB! Geez! I wish google would send me ads for beach resorts instead! 

[Jaybee]

10 hours ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

There are cultural mindsets that need addressing, along with government policies that support people; particularly those with limited resources. Those changes need to be advocated from places of worship, political leaders of all kinds, social groups, celebrities, etc.

Let's remember that it's generally advised people have at least a $1,000 emergency fund and 3-6 months of expenses saved up.  Of the people who could do that if they chose to live frugally, most don't. (BTDT, changed my foolish ways.) It's a huge cultural problem in consumerist, live in the moment,  America. So it's not surprising that most Americans don't prepare with at least an extra week's worth of food, medicine, water, warmth in some form, and the like on hand in case of a rare emergency.

Most people with extra resources where I live do have extra on hand for hurricane season.  We're near Raleigh, so we're far enough inland that we only get the very edge of hurricanes, and we do get occasional tornadoes, with power outages that last only a day or two at most in late summer-fall. Many people own generators. Many fireplaces.

But here's a weird thing about The South.  Most people with disposable income here don't have proper outdoor clothing for regular extremes in weather that happen every.single.winter.  They'll say it's too cold to go outside on days with highs in the 30s-40s. The don't own thermal underwear.  They don't own heavy coats, hats, gloves, socks, scarves, footwear.  Kids aren't allowed outside to play because it's too cold.  Homeschool park days are shut down because no one who was raised here will go.

People frequently repeat a strange phrase, "It's too cold for this southern girl/guy" when talking about themselves and their refusal to go outside in winter. It's somehow become part of their identity to not be "able" to handle cold.  Uh, add more layers? Buy clothes designed for the weather you actually live in?  All over the world in places far colder they buy the types of clothing that provide adequate warmth. They adapt to their environment like animals and humans usually do. What do they think they'll do if there's power outage in winter instead of during hurricane season late summer-fall? I say that as someone with Raynaud's Syndrome (hypersensitivity to cold) and the first 45 of my 47 years on this earth in PHX, so I had to adapt more than most here, but it really wasn't hard.  Walmart carries thermal underwear.  Heavy winter clothing really is sold nationwide and Amazon delivers to most people's houses.

Until we deal with those underlying mindsets to get those people who could manage better on their own to start doing so, it's going to be a repeating disaster on a bigger scale than it needs to be. That means the people who don't have extra or even adequate resources will have less access to needed services because people who could've done better but chose not to are now in need of services too, and services are always limited. 

Well, I grew up in the South, and as an adult have lived in some very cold climates. As a child, we played outside summer and winter. We never had snowsuits or the kinds of clothes we later used in the cold climates. As a parent, after having lived in the cold climates with the appropriate clothing, all-weather tires, snow shovels, etc., then later living in the South again with our large family, it just wasn't a good use of our resources to spend money on harsh-weather winterizing for each of our kids when it might not even be used once. Unless you are rich with plenty of storage room, you just can't be prepared for every single eventuality at all times.

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, Bootsie said:

There were power problems 10 years ago, but the weather conditions now are different than 10 years ago.  Record low for DFW then was 15 degrees In DFW, on Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday, we had lows that were below that record--down to at least zero.  The HIGH on Tuesday was 12--3 degrees LOWER than the record low of 2011.  The high on Sunday was 16 (only 1 degree higher than the previous record low) and only 18 on Tuesday.  So, basically we spent three straight days colder than the RECORD LOW.  

And this pattern is over a much larger part of the state for a longer period of time than 2011.  San Antonio was not above freezing from Saturday through Tuesday, but are again experiencing freezing temperatures, snow, and sleet today.  

I don't know what was or was not done regarding any recommendations after 2011, but it is possible that if something like the 2011 situation was planned for it would not have been adequate for this particular situation (which I think is much different than a once-in-a-decade situation).

It seems nobody has to guess, since El Paso DID manage to maintain power with much less impact to it's residents.  I've read that some of their customers lost power, but for less than five minutes.  After 2011, they replaced and upgraded their equipment in anticipation of this very event, but they're not part of ERCOT and ERCOT never took any measures like this after 2011.

[Bootsie]

10 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

It seems nobody has to guess, since El Paso DID manage to maintain power with much less impact to it's residents.  I've read that some of their customers lost power, but for less than five minutes.  After 2011, they replaced and upgraded their equipment in anticipation of this very event, but they're not part of ERCOT and ERCOT never took any measures like this after 2011.

El Paso has not had a day in which the temperature has remained below freezing this month.  Temperatures in El Paso have been much warmer than in the rest of the state.  AND El Paso normally experiences lower temperatures than DFW, Austin, San Antonio, or Houston.  So, the prudent preparations in El Paso would reasonably be very different than the prudent precautions in places in the state that are 800 miles away--just as prudent precautions in Washington DC are different than prudent precautions in Orlando, Florida.  El Paso is closer to Beaumont CALIFORNIA than it is to Beaumont TEXAS

 

[Terabith]

El Paso also exempted itself from the Texas only power company.  

[KungFuPanda]

41 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

El Paso has not had a day in which the temperature has remained below freezing this month.  Temperatures in El Paso have been much warmer than in the rest of the state.  AND El Paso normally experiences lower temperatures than DFW, Austin, San Antonio, or Houston.  So, the prudent preparations in El Paso would reasonably be very different than the prudent precautions in places in the state that are 800 miles away--just as prudent precautions in Washington DC are different than prudent precautions in Orlando, Florida.  El Paso is closer to Beaumont CALIFORNIA than it is to Beaumont TEXAS

 

You're very likely right and it has been a LONG time since I've lived in Texas.  However, I think it generates some interesting questions.  What is or isn't a prudent measure for an individual homeowner to take (due to expense) might be very thing that is prudent for a city, or a state (or business?) infrastructure to consider.  I would guess the precautions you take to safeguard systems against  20-30 degree weather would also greatly help when the thermometer dips below zero for a few days.  Once you get below freezing it doesn't matter too much if it's 10 degrees or -2.  Was it the case that there was nothing in place to protect against freezing weather or was it that those protections were inadequate in this situation?  Did NONE of these power generators make improvements after 2011 or was it largely skipped because the upgrades were voluntary?  I wonder if this exact conversation was had in 2011 and people just gambled it wouldn't happen again on their watch, so why bother investing?  I wonder if the damages will cost a lot more than weatherizing these systems would have, but I realize that money is coming from different piles.  

I don't expect @Bootsie to answer any of these questions.  I'm just curious and rambling.  I do hate the idea that so many people were dangerously cold for so long.  Even when you don't fear for your life, nothing is miserable like being cold for a long time.  I'd choose oppressive heat over this any day and where I live that means a wet heat. 

[Bootsie]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

You're very likely right and it has been a LONG time since I've lived in Texas.  However, I think it generates some interesting questions.  What is or isn't a prudent measure for an individual homeowner to take (due to expense) might be very thing that is prudent for a city, or a state (or business?) infrastructure to consider.  I would guess the precautions you take to safeguard systems against  20-30 degree weather would also greatly help when the thermometer dips below zero for a few days.  Once you get below freezing it doesn't matter too much if it's 10 degrees or -2.  Was it the case that there was nothing in place to protect against freezing weather or was it that those protections were inadequate in this situation?  Did NONE of these power generators make improvements after 2011 or was it largely skipped because the upgrades were voluntary?  I wonder if this exact conversation was had in 2011 and people just gambled it wouldn't happen again on their watch, so why bother investing?  I wonder if the damages will cost a lot more than weatherizing these systems would have, but I realize that money is coming from different piles.  

I don't expect @Bootsie to answer any of these questions.  I'm just curious and rambling.  I do hate the idea that so many people were dangerously cold for so long.  Even when you don't fear for your life, nothing is miserable like being cold for a long time.  I'd choose oppressive heat over this any day and where I live that means a wet heat. 

It definitely raises a lot of questions.  I do find it frustrating that the media is pointing to a 2011 report with recommendations that weren't taken, but trying to find any specifics about the report, what those recommendations were, were any of them taken, were there good reasons why the ones that weren't taken not taken (could they lead to other potential problems?) is difficult.   Although there is a massive amount of "reporting" on the subject, I am not finding any real facts--except that there are many, many people who are suffering in miserable, dangerous conditions.  

I do think much of the country is not realizing how different this situation is from what is normal for Texas.  I have never seen weather forecasts as erratic as we were getting last week.  Even as late as Monday, we had forecasts for rising above freezing every day this week (including Monday) that just did not happen.  I would watch the weather app and it would say a low of 28  a few minutes later it would be to expect a low of 15, an hour later it would be to expect a low of 0, then 30 minutes later it was forecast to be 30 degrees.  Looking at the weather forecast Friday, even Saturday, it looked as if Sunday would be the best weather to get out and stock up at the stores (after surprise freezing conditions on Thursday), but by Sunday morning roads were not safe.   And I have never seen freezing temperatures this low for this long in Texas, but I do remember breaking 100 degrees by this time in February in Texas...   

[TheReader]

11 hours ago, Terabith said:

Holy cow!  Waffle House openings are a legitimate scale of disaster!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index

yea, our son mentioned that, LOL! 

They *may* have been open and I just didn't notice, but.....not sure. Places right there at the intersection where they're located were iffy on power throughout, so I'm not sure. 

[ScoutTN]

20 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

It probably wouldn't make sense to buy those things where you live. Here in NC when the boys were young I always bought them warm coats, things to layer, and Lands End snow boats. They always got ample use out of the warm clothing. The boots--some years a lot of use, some years almost none. But with two boys it was easy to hand the boots down, and then I'd pass them on to my cousin's boys. I don't remember any of our neighborhood kids who didn't have proper winter attire or who didn't go out to play a lot, regardless of the weather. Now we're all adults, and everyone has Bean boots or similar, jackets/coats from North Face or Bean, plenty of layering stuff. No doubt someone will say "shows your privilege!" but . . . whatever. I don't know anyone with an adequate income who lives around here and doesn't have those things.

My climate is similar to NC and we absolutely need winter gear. Until my kids hit adult sizes (and sometimes even now!) I always got excellent coats, boots, snowpants, gloves, fleece, hats etc. at consignment or thrift.  I had to be purposeful about it and couldn’t wait til October each year, but I never spent more than $150/year (often much less) total to thoroughly outfit two kids. Including a dressy coat for Dd. I always bought long underwear and smartwool type socks new. 
 

So for moderate climates where there is some real winter, outfitting kids can be done very inexpensively, with some forethought. 

[chiguirre]

Although individual prepping would have made people's lives more bearable over the last week, it would not have avoided the huge economic losses Texas is facing. Short of having a whole house generator that could maintain the pipes in the outside walls above freezing, there is nothing much you can do to avoid bursting pipes if you lose power for days at a time. A whole house generator runs between $7500 and $15,000. That's not doable for most people.

A space heater on a portable generator is not going to solve the burst pipe problem and that is the major economic impact for most people. Long johns and a variety of canned food will make the emergency less miserable, but they will not save you from collapsing ceilings, waterlogged drywall and massive water damage.

A burst pipe is almost as bad as a flood. The water is clean and it's cold enough that mold won't grow overnight, but you still have a huge repair on your hands in a market where a huge number of your neighbors have the same needs. It will be difficult to find qualified plumbers, dry wall installers, electricians and flooring installers, plus you have to deal with your insurance company. It's a nightmare.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by chiguirre

[Pam in CT]

re the unbearable expense of burst pipes

5 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

Although individual prepping would have made people's lives more bearable over the last week, it would not have avoided the huge economic losses Texas is facing. Short of having a whole house generator that could maintain the pipes in the outside walls above freezing, there is nothing much you can do to avoid bursting pipes if you lose power for days at a time. A whole house generator runs between $7500 and $15,000. That's not doable for most people.

A space heater on a portable generator is not going to solve the burst pipe problem and that is the major economic impact for most people. Long johns and a variety of canned food will make the emergency less miserable, but they will not save you from collapsing ceilings, waterlogged drywall and massive water damage.

A burst pipe is almost as bad as a flood. The water is clean and it's cold enough that mold won't grow overnight, but you still have a huge repair on your hands in a market where a huge number of your neighbors have the same needs. It will be difficult to find qualified plumbers, dry wall installers, electricians and flooring installers, plus you have to deal with your insurance company. It's a nightmare.

 

 

This is life in CT.

Houses *are not built* with major pipelines on exterior walls: we have building codes.

Nonetheless, it sometimes happens that somebody (OK, me) wants to do some "home improvement project" (finishing off our attic to make a playroom/spare bedroom/bathroom) that entails running a bit of pipe near an exterior wall.

Precipitating conversations like this:

Contractor: Wellll.... putting the sink there would mean I'd have to run the faucet in from the exterior wall. Which could burst in a bad spell if you lost the power.

Pam in CT: But... (waving helplessly at the steeply sloping -- because snow -- roofline, and the teeny-tiny space)... is there anywhere ELSE we could really put the sink?

Contractor (musing): Well... I could build out a cabinet and run the pipe through the cabinet, so at least it's not in the wall itself. It'd still be the pipe most vulnerable to bursting in your house.

Pam in CT: K, that sounds good.

Contractor: Here's the thing though - any time you leave the house in the winter, you're going to have to turn off the water in the attic at least, and drain that pipe.

Pam in CT: K, I promise.  We turn it off and drain the pipes anyway when we leave the house in the winter. (Which is true. For everyone in town.)

____

(Contractor does a lovely job on playroom & teeny-tiny bathroom)

(We live happily for ~10 years, religiously turning off the water every time we leave the house between Nov-March, like everyone else in town)

_____

April break -- the daffodils are wilting, the cherry blossoms have blown away, we're on to plum blossoms and pieris and rhodedendron and tulips -- we take the kids to Florida. And, I have foreshadowed this so thoroughly y'all know where it is going:

HARD freeze. Major ice. Major trees down. Roads impassable. Trucks can't get through.

And we're in Florida, oblivious to weather reports, did not realize there were storms, did not call the neighbors to ask them to go in and drain and shut off, and..

... sure enough, that attic pipe was the one that burst.  Nice and HIGH so it ruined the wallboard all.the.way.down to the basement.  $15,000.

 

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Dreamergal said:

 This is a humanitarian crisis caused by incompetence. Not because people are stupid or did not know how to prepare.

Whether a country is in third world status or first world status, incompetence, corruption and power struggles are still there. 
The only difference I find between my country of origin and here is that work life balance is better enforced instead of just lip service. 
 

I understand you are upset but I do find your expectations of first world countries a little high. Maybe the school system here and the California wildfires due to down power lines have already set my expectations very low. 

[fairfarmhand]

2 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

My climate is similar to NC and we absolutely need winter gear. Until my kids hit adult sizes (and sometimes even now!) I always got excellent coats, boots, snowpants, gloves, fleece, hats etc. at consignment or thrift.  I had to be purposeful about it and couldn’t wait til October each year, but I never spent more than $150/year (often much less) total to thoroughly outfit two kids. Including a dressy coat for Dd. I always bought long underwear and smartwool type socks new. 
 

So for moderate climates where there is some real winter, outfitting kids can be done very inexpensively, with some forethought. 

Same. Now, do my kids actually wear it?

No...going out in the snow in flip flops makes so much more sense, despite the fact that the boots are RIGHT THERE.

[Amy Gen]

I’m a native Texan, and when I first read the title of this thread, I thought, “Well, who else’s responsibility could it be?” Also, my husband works in the energy industry, so I understand a little about blackouts and how much effort usually goes into preventing them. 

I do think that each person needs to be as prepared as possible, and yes, the news usually gives plenty of warning before an extreme weather event but the news also constantly “warns” about events that never actually happen. 
 

I was in high school working at an art supply store when hurricane Alicia was predicted. All day, I laughed at the gullible people buying tape and candles. For some reason, I was certain it was a false alarm. 

We lost power for a week and my mom and I were fighting over birthday cake candles to read by. We ate whatever was in the pantry, and I just remember being so excited that the start of school was delayed due to power outages. 

I have no idea, why I didn’t think the ample warnings were anything to worry about, but I do remember how shocked I was when the hurricane actually hit. 

Since then, I’ve been through more hurricanes and floods and wildfires and earthquakes and I’ve come to believe that while everyone should be as prepared as possible, in the end, your community is what really saves you. 

I had a 3 day old baby when my house flooded in Tropical Storm Allison. It was a neighbor, not the sheriff’s department that brought a boat through my front doors and rescued us. And it was neighbors who came afterwards and cut sheetrock and pulled up carpet. 
 

During Hurricane Rita, we were actually out of the country. One neighbor moved our cars to high ground. Another one spent the entire day moving our furniture and photos upstairs so that if water came in the house, those things would be spared. My dad texted, that he had gone to our house and taken our toilet paper and beer. My best friend siphoned gas out of my station wagon and shopped my pantry for food. 

My best friend became a bit of a prepper since then. She has a spare bedroom turned to food storage that she rotates. She bought a whole house generator about 15 years ago. Her son is in dental school in San Antonio and he rolls his eyes a little at her preparedness. 
 

So they are all without power. My friend had a pipe burst and water poured into her laundry room and den. Nevertheless, she is helping her neighbors. She ran an extension cord from her generator to the house next door where 80 year olds are recovering from COVID. 
 

The newly widowed neighbor came over in a panic, and my friend talked her down, and put her in bed with her to get warm and watch Downton Abby together.

My friend was fine, but I could tell she was feeling helpless about her son. He can visit friends who have power during the day, and a Mormon friend delivered a phone battery and a head lamp and food, because the gas station he could walk to for snacks is closed due to the power outage. And he quit rolling his eyes at his mother for her prepping. He even asked if she would stock an emergency supply closet for his birthday present. 
 

None of this is to say that power companies are blameless. I know that they make some bad choices and have priorities which are in direct opposition to customers needs. But it will always be a system that does not work 100% of the time. If you fix one problem, another one will pop up  . I don’t believe we will see a time where there are no more power outages

I am not minimizing what is happening in Texas, I’m afraid it will be like Katrina, and when people go door to door afterwards, they will fine people who died in their homes. 
 

So my advice to my kids is to prepare as much as you can, try not to panic and really nurture your support system in your community because when a crisis hits, you are really going to need each other. 

 

[MEmama]

2 hours ago, Dreamergal said:

I know many people are not in social media or have not had the time to see what is going on. So here are a few pictures which can say more than a thousand words what people are facing. 

We do not have dramatic pictures of water standing like a hurricane but the scale of damage is just that or close.

It is not in chronological order. But toilet water froze, people stored water in bathtubs and that froze. Children's fish tanks froze. Roofs caved in and there was standing water with all the clothes wet. We are not supposed to run dryers because of overloading the grid. What are people supposed to do ?  

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/pictures-of-what-texas-is-like

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexalisitza/texas-snowstorm-tiktoks

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/pictures-of-texas-cold

 

This.is.horrific.

I've been following these threads but I guess I didn’t grasp the enormity until viewing the links. There are no words.

Stay safe, Texas friends. My heart goes out to all of you.

[TheReader]

8 minutes ago, MEmama said:

This.is.horrific.

I've been following these threads but I guess I didn’t grasp the enormity until viewing the links. There are no words.

Stay safe, Texas friends. My heart goes out to all of you.

13 million still without safe water, whether from loss of pipes bursting, city lost water pressure, or just having a boil water notice. 

Most have power back at this point, but.... 

[Carrie12345]

No, prepping does not stop bad things from happening. People who knew how to live off the land before all the helps we have today still sometimes died because stuff happened.  But they did what they could to stay safe and relatively comfortable with the resources they could acquire. That’s about all anyone can do.

ETE:Individuals, that is. Private and governmental groups have more resources. Just to be clear.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Carrie12345

[DoraBora]

Things are improving a bit.  Looking at our state weather map, temps are in the mid-thirties and above, with the valley and much of the west in the low-fifties.  Of course, it will drop again tonight, but tomorrow should be warmer still.

Numerous water distribution events have already begun and will continue tomorrow, run by the TX National Guard, churches, and ordinary folks.

At the food pantry, we began the day without much to share, but people absolutely came out of the woodwork to donate. 😊  We had TONS of "good stuff" to share and were running out of space to keep things when we closed for the evening.  

Edited February 20, 2021 by DoraBora
Spelling

[DoraBora]

So, I guess the point of my post above is that some people must have prepared a little - stores, individuals - so that they could have things to share. 

You wouldn't know it from the news (which has my fil calling us worried that we're dying), but many stores have had food and there's bottled water to be had.  I was at Sam's yesterday, and while they were limiting bottled water to 5 cases per member, there was plenty of it -- it was stacked in the aisles.  (Many of our DFW area cities are under boil water advisories.)  Yeah people cleaned out the bread, milk, and eggs, at my Tom Thumb, but that's how it anytime we expect a major (for us) winter storm.  Now that trucks can get through, which anyone watching the weather forecast could have predicted they would by today, stores are restocking.

I don't mean to suggest that this wasn't a big deal.  A lot of folks have suffered because of "rolling" blackouts that didn't roll.  My brother's power was out for nearly 80 hours... my sister's not at all.  We lost power, rolling more off than on, for a total of 36-ish hours, but we didn't go to one of the many warming stations - two within walking distance - or accept offers of shelter from family or neighbors.  We checked on people around us and would have been happy to help, but no one wanted anything. 

Food pantry clients today were saying they had been very cold, but they made it through alright.  One homeless lady said the same as we loaded her up with food and water and tried to arrange shelter for her (which she didn't seem to want).  I don't know where she stayed during the worst of it.

I guess I'm thinking that, as usual, the news outlets want to produce dramatic, horrible stories about people who are having a terrible time when just as many (more?) people are really just fine.  It was uncomfortable and inconvient to an extreme for many, and it will cost a lot of money to clean up, but some of these stories, frankly, seem to be more about a political agenda than the plight of ordinary folks.  (And I know people did suffer.  It's terrible and very sad.)

I'm in the camp of prepare as much as you reasonably can, get to know your neighbors, share with others, and hope the government will do its part.  Since I claim to be a Christian, I should relax when I've done what I can and trust God to work as He will.  (Sadly, I'm not always successful there.)  I'm unhappy with our power grid situation and the way this played out, but I'd like to know more about the decisions behind our "energy independence", and I suspect citizens will push for needed changes.  I hope so.  

Meanwhile, I will refine my own preparedness a little, based on our experiences these past several days, and I'll be watching our state government in hopes that they'll do the same.

(This was more rambly than I intended.  It has been a long week.  🙃)

[Shoeless]

5 hours ago, Dreamergal said:

Thanks.

It's bad. It's really bad.

We do not have roofs blown off, but inside people are having a rain and water standing, People are thinking of breaking floor boards and burning their children's wooden blocks, baby gates, wooden fences for heat. They are staying in cars for warmth a bit and charging so all the gas they had is gone and many gas stations are empty. So many cities have boil water notices, all the bottle water is fast disappearing. Someone had to thaw out breast milk and feed their kids. People are going to home depot and buying wood to burn for warmth. 
I've lived through Category 5 hurricanes and loss of property was there and life, but people evacuated if they could. Now even fire departments are running low on water. This should not happen in America. 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/us/texas-winter-storm-vignettes-trnd/index.html

I get so mad when people say Texans did not prepare. How much can you prepare and for how many days ?  I  We are not stupid because we did not have winter clothes because there is no need for it and why would we buy them especially for kids who grow like weeds and we do not vacation in cold places ? People wear hoodies and shorts routinely when it is cold That is our winter uniform. We do not know how to drive in the snow or so little snow  because no one cleared our roads as we do not have equipment, never did. We do not expect them to, we just shutdown. 

We are not snowflakes because a little cold can bring us down nor are we socialists for wanting basic power when we are the state that generates the highest power.  We would have got sympathy if we had a big hurricane hit us I feel. We were let down by incompetence.

Thank you for speaking so eloquently about this. I am out of patience for people who want to "Yeah, but..." and say everyone should have tried harder to prepare. 

None of the weather reports I received said things would get this bad. The alerts from county emergency management started out with "It will be really cold" and progressed to "This is an emergency" over a period of days. By the time the messaging shifted to emergency status, it was too late to do any more prep work. At that point, the roads were unsafe to drive.  With the wind chill, it was colder in Dallas than it was in Buffalo, NY. The Wind Chill Is 20 Degrees Colder In Dallas, TX Than Buffalo Right Now (wyrk.com)

How do you prepare to live in a freezing cold house (literally), with burst pipes, flooding, frozen windows, no heat, for 5 days?  Now add in the pandemic.  

I have never seen anything like this in my life.  My family is lucky. As far as I can tell, all we'll lose is a few citrus trees. My family is exhausted from this, and we don't have it even a fraction as bad as other people here.

[Vintage81]

2 hours ago, DoraBora said:

You wouldn't know it from the news (which has my fil calling us worried that we're dying), but many stores have had food and there's bottled water to be had.  I was at Sam's yesterday, and while they were limiting bottled water to 5 cases per member, there was plenty of it -- it was stacked in the aisles.  (Many of our DFW area cities are under boil water advisories.)  Yeah people cleaned out the bread, milk, and eggs, at my Tom Thumb, but that's how it anytime we expect a major (for us) winter storm.  Now that trucks can get through, which anyone watching the weather forecast could have predicted they would by today, stores are restocking.

😳 5 cases of water! 

Things are very different here. I’m going into day 6 with no water in my home. The grocery stores have no water. My wonderful water company was so generous today and told all of their customers that they’d be out at three locations giving out free water. Then, when people arrived, they had *one* pallet of water and were giving one case per family. 😫 It wasn’t enough to give to hardly anyone. Jerks. There are thousands of people around here desperate for water. I wish they’d just turn our damn water on. 

I pray those trucks get further south to restock our stores. We desperately need it. 
 

ETA: We are lucky because my parents only live about 30 minutes away and they’ve had water. We were able to go to their house today to take showers, wash clothes, wash some dishes, and fill some containers with water. The snow is melting away and if we don’t get water down here soon, there’s going to be serious problems. Again, my family is fortunate to have a resource not too far away, but there are many who don’t have this. Not having the most basic essential of water is terrifying. 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Vintage81

[Bootsie]

8 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

We were completely fine. We had heat so had warm food, pipes did not burst, had no water boil. But that does not mean others are. The way we decide on how a disaster is handled is how people without resources fared and they did not fare well. I know people who spent $30.00 for three flats of water which is usually $1.99 each. Not everyone can afford that.

I will not bring God into this. He will not send ravens to feed us, instead He has blessed this land and this state with resources abundantly. Losses are in the billions, around 18 billion I heard. We are a state with Category Level 5 hurricanes that is becoming almost routine now. Yet this is the costliest weather event. Why ? 

Not that people were not warned. Negligence caused it and now we all pay the price in perhaps increased insurance costs, electric costs and who knows what. Appalling and shameful.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/18/this-years-winter-storm-could-become-the-costliest-weather-event-in-texas-history/

One reason that it will probably be the costliest weather event is that it has impacted a much larger region.  Yes, a hurricane may cause a lot of damage in Houston or Rockport or Beaumont.  This has caused damage in Dallas, Austin, Houston, Corpus Christ....

Another reason this will probably be the costliest for insurance companies is that some of the hurricane damage is not covered if it is "flood" damage and there is not flood insurance.  

 

[DoraBora]

@Vintage81, do you mind sharing your location?

[Vintage81]

7 minutes ago, DoraBora said:

@Vintage81, do you mind sharing your location?

I’m in the Hill Country between San Antonio and Austin

[HeartString]

Has anyone seen this?  A Texas man says he is getting an $8000 electric bill after his electric stayed on during all of this.  It’s not being widely reported though, so I’m not sure if it.  

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/one-texas-resident-still-has-power-his-bill-now-over-8000-1570343%3famp=1

[Jean in Newcastle]

2 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Thank you for speaking so eloquently about this. I am out of patience for people who want to "Yeah, but..." and say everyone should have tried harder to prepare. 

None of the weather reports I received said things would get this bad. The alerts from county emergency management started out with "It will be really cold" and progressed to "This is an emergency" over a period of days. By the time the messaging shifted to emergency status, it was too late to do any more prep work. At that point, the roads were unsafe to drive.  With the wind chill, it was colder in Dallas than it was in Buffalo, NY. The Wind Chill Is 20 Degrees Colder In Dallas, TX Than Buffalo Right Now (wyrk.com)

How do you prepare to live in a freezing cold house (literally), with burst pipes, flooding, frozen windows, no heat, for 5 days?  Now add in the pandemic.  

I have never seen anything like this in my life.  My family is lucky. As far as I can tell, all we'll lose is a few citrus trees. My family is exhausted from this, and we don't have it even a fraction as bad as other people here.

I thought that this thread was broader than what is currently happening in Texas?  I thought the question was more general about how much people should prepare vs rely on governments and community help. So that is how I answered.