Deep freeze just latest disaster to befall needy

Experts say power outages, water contamination disproportionately hit communities of color

HOUSTON — Ernest and Hester Collins already faced their share of hardships before last month’s deadly winter storm plunged much of Texas into a deep freeze and knocked out power to millions of homes, including their modest rental in one of Houston’s historically Black neighborhoods, the Fifth Ward.

The brother and sister were getting by on a fixed income without a car when the storm left them and many neighbors without light or heat for days. The storm caused their pipes to burst, leaving some in the nation’s fourth-largest city without running water three weeks on because many couldn’t afford repairs. Their dire circumstances left them unable to bathe and forced to use buckets as toilets.

The storm, which experts say may have caused billions of dollars in damage, is just the latest disaster in recent years to disproportionately affect Houston’s communities of color and its poorest residents. These include major floods in 2015 and 2016, devastation from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and, to a lesser degree, Tropical Storm Imelda two years later, a series of plant and refinery fires and explosions, and of course the coronavirus pandemic.

Not surprisingly, many in these communities are beyond frustrated by what they feel is a lack of assistance each time a disaster strikes.

“For some reason, we are not getting [help]. They put us on the back burner,” Ernest Collins, 56, said.

“Because we poor,” a female neighbor added.

Local officials, including Mayor Sylvester Turner, say they’ve focused recent recovery efforts on helping the underserved, but their work is far from complete. Community advocates worry that residents will continue having trouble accessing help and that this will exacerbate the ills afficting their communities, including income inequality and a lack of health care. Last month’s storm left more than 1.4 million Houston-area customers without power.