Texas Is In Rough Shape

[Random Noise 375 / 10,936]

So, if you didn't know, down here in Texas it got pretty cold. I currently live in Houston, and it hasn't been this cold in literal decades here. What's been going on is that, because we are so ill-equipped to deal with this, pipes have been bursting, and the power grid has been failing. Basically, our power grid is kinda shit, but it's been mostly fine all these years, at least until now, when so many homes were turning up their heaters. Power outages have been widespread, and the pipes, being a bit weak as well, have been failing as well.

 

All of this was caused by a winter storm that visited us at the beginning of the week, and while that storm had passed through other states and caused just as record lows as it did here, other states were not plagued with the foundational problems we are (Texas' power grid is separated from the rest of the US).

 

What resulted of all of this is that many, many homes and businesses were left out in the cold, without power and soon without water. For me, I had to sleep without power for 2 nights, and had an additional few hours without power for an afternoon. Even when we had power, we had to conserve it, so we kept most of the lights off, the heating at a minimal level, and did not use the computer or television. Food went bad in the fridge and freezer, so it was moved outside where the temperatures were so cold they could continue to keep the food fresh. School was closed for the entire week, of course, so I had very little to do during all of this.

 

To top it all off, the pipes in a neighboring unit burst, and water started pouring out of a few outlets, and more importantly, water started collecting in a patch on the first floor's ceiling, and holes had to be poked so the ceiling wouldn't fall apart and cave in. Even when our pipes were fine, we still had little water, and decided to turn off the water. During this, much of Texas was also under a boil water advisory, since water treatment plants had gone without power for a significant amount of time, meaning the water that came through the pipes that hadn't burst was unfit for drinking or cleaning.

 

All of this will very soon be over, but the impact will most likely be felt for at least the next few weeks, and I know for a fact that the impact will be felt until the end of the school year for the districts that closed school for a week. For now, we just have to hope that things can be resolved quickly. Power is already back to a more acceptable state, since I am able to write this on the computer without the fear of causing another blackout, although power is still out for many people.

 

I wanted to explain this situation so people would understand what's been going on, and this is all I have to say. Just happy to be able to participate in this community again after all that's happened.

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

It has honestly been crazy here, even in San Antonio which is the furthest major city to the South in Texas. It sucks because yesterday we got another 4 - 6 inches of snow on top of the storm from Sunday night.

 

On Monday, I had rolling outages all day where it would be 3 - 10 minutes of power on and then 1 - 2 hours of power off. On Tuesday into Wednesday (9:30 AM Tuesday to 4:30 AM Wednesday) I didn't have power at all, and then Wednesday I lost power for another 7 hours or so straight in the afternoon. I think it was more annoying when they would turn the electric on for a minute at 2:30 AM in the morning and three times after that over the night which kept waking me up due to my breaker beeping indicating the electric test was successful lmao.

 

Thankfully things have stabilized here since, but yeah the effects will be felt for the next few weeks at the least. We're still under a boil water notice, so I've been boiling my water since which is annoying, but w/e, better safe than sorry.

 

One colleague of mine had similar outages to me, but another lost power over 30 hours straight and we all live within 15 - 20 minutes of each other. Kind of crazy how the power outages went in my opinion. Thankfully my apartment didn't get extremely cold, it got to 50 - 60f, but I've heard some people get down to 18 - 32f. I'm thankful that wasn't me haha.

 

I really hope people stay safe in the more Northern side of Texas because it seems brutal there with the lower temperatures.

 

I also hope they put proper measurements in-place in the future to prevent this from happening again...

 

EDIT

Also, we were seconds or minutes away from a full power grid failure according to this article I read. I can't imagine if Texas lost full power for at least a month straight...

[VilhjalmrF 2,099 / 30,689]

47 minutes ago, Random Noise said:

it hasn't been this cold in literal decades here

just one decade 😛

47 minutes ago, Random Noise said:

All of this was caused by a winter storm that visited us at the beginning of the week, and while that storm had passed through other states and caused just as record lows as it did here, other states were not plagued with the foundational problems we are (Texas' power grid is separated from the rest of the US).

Tbh I consider the winter storm we just had here in Texas to be normal winter for the rest of the country. Texas was just really unprepared. Makes zero sense why they didn't prepare for this when something this severe happened ten years ago. I understand that it's super rare, but it's better to be ready rather than have everything be chaotic and messy like it is now.

 

48 minutes ago, Random Noise said:

What resulted of all of this is that many, many homes and businesses were left out in the cold, without power and soon without water. For me, I had to sleep without power for 2 nights, and had an additional few hours without power for an afternoon. Even when we had power, we had to conserve it, so we kept most of the lights off, the heating at a minimal level, and did not use the computer or television. Food went bad in the fridge and freezer, so it was moved outside where the temperatures were so cold they could continue to keep the food fresh. School was closed for the entire week, of course, so I had very little to do during all of this.

I am one of the few fortunate families to only have my power go out once and just only for a few hours. But lots of friends have complained and told me about no heater or even internet when power comes back on. People are using their cars to charge their phones or stay warm. Even sleeping in there for the rest of the night. It's sad and sucks that people have to go through that.

52 minutes ago, Random Noise said:

All of this will very soon be over, but the impact will most likely be felt for at least the next few weeks, and I know for a fact that the impact will be felt until the end of the school year for the districts that closed school for a week. For now, we just have to hope that things can be resolved quickly. Power is already back to a more acceptable state, since I am able to write this on the computer without the fear of causing another blackout, although power is still out for many people.

It's good that families are regaining their power. But as I said, we should really be prepared for next time. The damage of this is severe and expensive and it's outrageous that it happened again. Who knows when winter is gonna bite Texas in the ass. 10 years from now again? Maybe sooner?

[Ben 2,378 / 31,861]

I remember the great ice storm of December 2005 (Upstate South Carolina). Had power out for a week or two, had to save everything electrically and used generator, my family decided to go to Michigan to visit relatives after several days of power outage, probably a week, I can't remember. While we were on way home, we (my family) learned that power were restored. 

 

I will never forget that ice storm, wanted to share my experience when I was 10 at that time. 

 

It's tough seeing Texas suffering like this. Stay safe, try to stay warm. 

[Lonely 151 / 4,215]

The snow in the last few days have killed our water pipes and all water sources, living in the country sucks since it requires power for well to work. But we are living!

[Joshy 4,364 / 44,945]

I have some great memories there.  Hard to see all the horrible things on the news.  I was only there for a few months and left just a few days before Hurricane Harvey hit.  Saw the large 100+ car pileup that was far from where I was ever from, but have seen some terrifying pictures of areas I was more familiar with.