Winter Storm 2021

Hello Monday!  I took an unexpected blog break during "winter storm 2021."  We did lose power for awhile, but mainly I just felt very distracted.  So I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on, as well as some new posts coming soon.

I'm sure you have seen on the news all about "snow-mageddon" that hit Texas as much of the country.  It really was some of the craziest weather I've ever seen here in Houston, with sustained lows in the teens over several days.  Usually we hit the freezing mark just a few times each year.

This photo caused lots of controversy - empty downtown offices with power 

while most of the city was without or being told to conserve.

If this had been a "normal" weather event, school would have been closed and roads would have been impassable for a few days.  We would have dripped our faucets at night, prepared our pools for the freeze, and covered our tropical plants.

But that's not how it went down.  Based on poor planning by our energy regulation control company (a non-profit company that controls our energy grid, appointed by government but run independently), most of the state of Texas was without power for extended periods of time.  These were NOT rolling blackouts.  Many homes lost power for 48-72 hours.  The power outages also affected the water treatment facilities, so many places also lost water.  At one point, 65% of the Houston area was without power, and 4 million homes were without statewide.  We personally lost electricity for 3 hours Sunday night and 8 hours on Wednesday.

Losing electricity with such chilly temperatures (for us) was a big deal because our homes are just not designed for warmth.  We did fine, but I couldn't stop thinking of all the elderly, disabled, young children, and sick.  

We started hearing about lots of burst pipes, so we started turning off our water main at night and draining all our faucets.  We also drained the pool pumps and filter and left the lids off for expansion.  We were lucky not to get any burst pipes and just some minor (hopefully) pool repairs.  Michael worked SO HARD all week to make sure all systems were prepared and protected.

Michael's mom had a burst pipe, so she went to stay with his sister.  We were already able to get her pipe repaired.  We also spent a lot of the week continuing to pack her house for her upcoming downsizing move.

In true Texas fashion, this weekend we were already back up to the 60's.  We lost quite a few landscaping plants, but I'm waiting a few weeks before removing or trimming back.  

Thankfully, everyone we know came through this storm with just a little damage.  Lots of pipes needed repair, but I don't know anyone personally with extensive flooding or water damage.  The student center at church was flooded, and they have already started the drying process.

As you can imagine, this whole event brought back lots of memories from Harvey.  It left me feeling grateful that Harvey is behind us and wondering again how we weathered the months from August through December 2017.  

And as always, I think of those most affected by disasters like this - the elderly, the poor, the single mom's, the disabled, and the sick.  Instead of saying "the poor," we really should say anyone who doesn't have a large amount of disposable income to spend on emergency repairs or expenses.  I also think of all the people who were out of work for the week due to the weather.  

Many people want to know where to donate in emergencies like this.  I have seen lots of recommendations on Instagram, and I'm sure they are all good.  After living through the hurricane, I discourage donating to national organizations.  We just didn't see those groups "on the ground" much in our natural disaster.  

You can't go wrong giving to a locally based food bank, church or charity.  I have seen organizations like the "Cajun Navy" and CrowdSourceRescue doing amazing work in our community.  And best of all, if you know a friend of a friend of a friend who was impacted, send them a gift card or cash to help them out.  During Harvey, I had friends in other states spread the word about our situation and we received gift cards and notes from complete strangers.  It was such a blessing, both financially and emotionally.  So that is what I always try to do now - find a personal connection and send something that way.  It's not always possible, but when you can make it happen, it's priceless.

Anyway...sorry to ramble!  We are good, but glad that week is behind us!  I hope you weathered this storm and are looking forward to brighter, warmer days ahead!