Freeze went from novelty to tragedy
Iopened my eyes on the morning of Monday, Feb 15, to a beautiful snow-covered world, a sight I had never seen in my 30 years living in Houston. On social media, most of my Texas friends were sharing snow photos and having a ball. Children were making snow angels. “We are so happy!” one of them declared.
A couple of friends said they were out of power. One said he was showing off his generator and Boy Scout skills.
I wasn’t alarmed, not at that point. More and more news about power outages was pouring in as the day went by. The situation seemed more dire than any natural disaster I have experienced, including Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
I was confident our house would continue to have power because none of the previous hurricanes ever left our neighborhood in the dark.
The next day dawned with below-freezing temperatures. There were reports of more power outages, the widespread bursting of frozen water pipes, and a mother and daughter dying from carbon monoxide poisoning after running a car in a garage for warmth.
There were photos of empty shelves in supermarkets.
One person asked: “Am I living in the United States?”
The road in front of our house was icy and we couldn’t go out. Sirens screamed constantly.
I learned the Lone Star State has one of the country’s three power grids, but it’s ours alone, and no one could provide help from other states.
The water pressure began to drop on the afternoon of Feb 16, but little else happened. Around 10:30 pm, our house went dark. There was an unfamiliar quiet.
I woke up on Wednesday to find the water pressure had been reduced to a trickle and I had to forgo a shower. We put a few plastic boxes under a patio eave to catch the water from the slowly melting snow and ice. Though we had no power, my cellphone was still charged.
As a family fond of camping, we have some outdoor gear. My husband boiled water on a portable gas stove and made me a cup of coffee.
The ice finally melted in front of our street, and I ventured out for lunch. Traffic lights were out, and roads were chaotic. Almost all restaurants were shut. When I finally saw one open, the long line outside and the cold made me change my mind. I gave up.
I told myself maybe I will just get some gasoline for our generator in case the power is out for days.
The gas station was so jammed with other cars I couldn’t get in. I went home empty-handed.
We boiled water and had instant ramen noodles for lunch.
I checked the news periodically and knew we were in a relatively good place compared with what others were going through.
Power came back at dusk. It had been out for 20 hours.
But we were lucky — no burst pipes because we wrapped all of them, including those in the attic, and because we had some power until the coldest days had passed.
Thousands of people dealt with broken pipes and flooded homes. They can be fixed. But the same can’t be said for the loss of lives.