Finally able to get back on internet here just south of Dallas, TX. Some people need to put our experience into perspective, in that we don't usually have these harsh winter events. So, keeping their "usual" harsh winter temps and precipitation in mind, they now need to take away their specific winter clothes, snow plows, snow shovels, salt trucks, snow tires/chains, basements, antifreeze rated to below -15, experience driving on snow/ice, poorly insulated/no insulation on pipes, and then turn off all their heat and water for several days and nights. Consider too, that our high temps usually reach 100+ in the summers, so we have homes designed to keep cool with lots of windows for cross ventilation, reflective roofs, etc. and most of south Texas homes have their pipes in the attic for some reason. The -0- degree temps I had at one point (not counting wind chill) is basically a 100+ degree difference from our summers. My extended family each had different experiences, although all are prepared for most crisis. I'm just south of Dallas and was lucky enough to have rolling blackouts every hour. Those kept not only my heat around 64-68 degrees for the most part, it also kept my barn running as far as heat lamps and water trough heaters so I didn't lose any animals. One daughter's family only lost power for 2 hours as they have gas based items and the provider was running low at the beginning, but then must have filled up as they had no outages the rest of the time. Another daughter just north of Austin lost electric heat the entire time - with a 2 month old baby. They did have a fireplace so made a tent enclosure in that room and bundled the baby and made it through that way. They took their fridge contents and placed outside to keep at safe temps. My 85 yrs old parents are just north of Houston and luckily must be on the same grid as the nearby hospital as they never lost power. My dad, however, was concerned about the pipes being in the attic, so turned off their water manually before freezing temps arrived there. One brother in their same area lost power and water the entire time, but luckily he hasn't had any problems as things thawed out. Two other brothers, in Austin and Houston had some power outages, but not many. We all have preps which kept us out of the frenzies of the grocery and hardware stores. We each are reassessing our weak areas for the cold, but also for the heat extremes we always endure. I was able to pre-plan for my animals before this hit because I had noticed their fur/hair/feathers were extremely thicker than ever before, so I "guessed" that something was coming. Weather forecasts had even predicted low temps at least a week before it happened, so seeing lines of people outside stores and people asking where they could find gas for their cars, propane, milk, eggs, water all during this event just made me shake my head. What I DIDN'T see were any riots or looting. Instead people were offering places for strangers to come stay, food, water, firewood, etc. to help each other - without govt assistance. So, the best thing that came out of this state wide is that many people now have their eyes wide open as to what they need to do to better protect themselves.
