The February Freeze

February brought an unexpected surprise to Texas.  In southeast Texas where snow falls once in a decade and temperatures rarely fall below freezing, Winter Storm Uri had plans to shock and awe.  The entire state of Texas was engulfed in a winter storm warning that lasted 9 consecutive days with below freezing temperatures.  It was like nothing this generation of Texans had ever seen before. 

Due to the tremendous pull, the power grid failed leaving 10 million people without power for a stretch of 7+ days in below-freezing conditions.  We were still in our tiny corporate apartment as the storm set in.  We lost power, as I expected we would, but I did not expect the duration to be as extreme as it was.  We had collectively 10 hours of power through the first 72 hours, with the longest initial outage lasting 35 hours during the worst of the storm. It got chilly y’all! Our longest stretch with power was 6 hours one afternoon, as the power would continue to go on and off intermittently and unexpectedly over the next week, but we were thankful for the heat when it was there!  Due to poorly insulted windows and doors, we couldn't keep the entire apartment warm.  Everything in the apartment was electric including the stove.  After the first day, we moved everything into one bedroom and Brenna and I huddled under every sheet, blanket, and towel we had, which wasn't much keeping in mind we're still only operating with what few things came back with us in our suitcases from the UK and the bare minimum furnishings of a corporate apartment.  We sat in that room for days passing the time as best we could while Jacob was at work.  When our phones and iPads were low, we'd go down to the car and drive around the snow covered parking lot to feel the only heat available to us from the car heater and charge our devices.  The last time we moved back to Texas we got here just in time for Harvey. Looks like we hit it lucky this time too! 

Cellular service was spotty and with no WiFi it was a struggle to stay in contact with others to know the status of things.  Roads were impassable due to the snow and ice, creating supply chain issues.  Grocery stores with no power and no replenishment went empty.  Pipes burst not just in homes, but in main lines as well, creating water supply issues and boil water notices that were ineffective for people like us with only electric heat and no power.  Water service was disrupted to more than 12 million people.  Temperatures in Houston, Texas were actually below temperatures in Anchorage, Alaska.

When it was all over, 246 people were killed as a result of the storm and its conditions, linked to carbon monoxide poisoning, car crashes, drownings, house fires and hypothermia, and there would be $26.5 billion worth of damage to homes and infrastructure.