After so many years, I thought I was past being surprised by the crazy Texas weather. The winter storm last week was definitely a first in the 23 years I’ve lived here. The snow was beautiful and satisfied my wish for a white Christmas. Even though it came in February. Along with the snow came some of the coldest temperatures Texas has seen since 1899. Everything pretty much shut down for a whole week. We were advised to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. Many cars that attempted to take on the wintry roads were quickly defeated. The dangerous road conditions and missing work should have been the only issues Texans dealt with.
But, alas it was not so. As the entire country knows, Texas went down like California. No light, no heat, and no water. Mostly controlled by the electric company. The lucky ones suffered a few hours, maybe. But the unlucky ones? Up to five days without light. Even longer without water due to all the frozen pipes bursting. I’m sure it was a homeowner’s nightmare and a plumber’s dream.
Fear and panic caused food and gasoline shortages. Lines wrapped around the stores and gas stations as people hunted for necessities. It may have been worse than when Covid hit, I think. Then it was shortages of toilet paper and water.
The electric company failed to do its job. So much focus is on going green and renewable energy instead of making sure the tried and true reliability of natural gas is maintained and kept up to date. Everyone has an opinion on why the system failed. Whether it was due to the wind turbines or the pipelines freezing or both, Texas should have been prepared.