Winter storm has paralyzed Texas. I don't know how other states are managing right now, but they are more or less used to dealing with these kinds of conditions. Texas... not so much.
The extreme cold has frozen pipes all over the state. Not just in residential properties (houses, apartments, condos), but even municipal pumping stations. Ton of people are dealing with burst pipes and water damage in their homes. Many folks who avoided burst pipes don't have any running water because the city pumps aren't working. Just about every municipality that is pumping water right now has issued a boil water notice. The water isn't safe. Great stuff for the c19 age.
In conjunction with water issues, tons of people are without power. Texas lost some power generation capability with wind turbines freezing up and pipes frrezing/bursting at inadequately prepared power plants. The grid got overwhelmed by demand. Some areas of the state lost power completely. Some areas are experiencing rolling blackouts. A lot of people are suffering with near freezing temps inside their homes.
This is all happening while roadways (and especially bridges) are iced over and too dangerous to traverse. Central/Southern Texas isn't used to dealing with iced roads. Neither the citizens nor the public works peeps. One local municipality says they ran out of sand/salt to clear the roads.
Last night we got a break from sub freezing temps, but starting tonight we get another round lasting a few more days. It will like be a week or so before the full scope of deaths from this storm become known.
I've been relatively lucky. We have running water, power and nat gas. We did lose internet access though. Our ISP must have lost the local substation. I can only access the net via my cell phone (4g cellular network).
Luckily I'm well stocked with sanitizers, paper plates and such to manage a week or so without potable water to wash/clean.
The extreme cold has frozen pipes all over the state. Not just in residential properties (houses, apartments, condos), but even municipal pumping stations. Ton of people are dealing with burst pipes and water damage in their homes. Many folks who avoided burst pipes don't have any running water because the city pumps aren't working. Just about every municipality that is pumping water right now has issued a boil water notice. The water isn't safe. Great stuff for the c19 age.
In conjunction with water issues, tons of people are without power. Texas lost some power generation capability with wind turbines freezing up and pipes frrezing/bursting at inadequately prepared power plants. The grid got overwhelmed by demand. Some areas of the state lost power completely. Some areas are experiencing rolling blackouts. A lot of people are suffering with near freezing temps inside their homes.
This is all happening while roadways (and especially bridges) are iced over and too dangerous to traverse. Central/Southern Texas isn't used to dealing with iced roads. Neither the citizens nor the public works peeps. One local municipality says they ran out of sand/salt to clear the roads.
Last night we got a break from sub freezing temps, but starting tonight we get another round lasting a few more days. It will like be a week or so before the full scope of deaths from this storm become known.
I've been relatively lucky. We have running water, power and nat gas. We did lose internet access though. Our ISP must have lost the local substation. I can only access the net via my cell phone (4g cellular network).
Luckily I'm well stocked with sanitizers, paper plates and such to manage a week or so without potable water to wash/clean.
