February 2021 Winter Storm

[Tangy Bee]

@indianabones, so sorry about your sister's pipes. Growing up, we had a pump house & well water, so we had to leave water dripping to prevent frozen pipes. I don't know if this is still standard for rural areas. Having a wood heater is a plus if power went out.

[Xan]

In case it hasn't come up yet, Texas has its own power grid.  Info from the Mahablog:

ERCOT (Energy Reliability Council of Texas) was founded in 1970.  The Texas Legislature voted to deregulate it in 1995 because - freedom!  Most of the outage has been from the less-than-green power sources.  Texas apparently urges them to only produce exactly as much as will be used.  That way the price of electricity stays up and stable.  I find it amusing that Texas was ready to secede and now they are turning to the nation for help.  I do, however, feel really awful for the people trapped in this mess.  Nobody should be sitting in a house without power in this kind of cold.

[Cartmann99]

My local newspaper had an article about the hotels filling up with people who have lost power or have frozen pipes. Tonight's forecast says we might get more snow or ice.

[clueliss]

I’ve seen local notices that MISO, the power grouping to the east of the Southwest Power Pool is asking for conservation.

link below should take you to a map for the whole country 

https://images.app.goo.gl/LCg53bLnasmQTJsf9

[47of74]

Another idiot in Texas ran his mouth off

Quote

The mayor of this Texas town of about 4,000 people stepped down Tuesday in the wake of a controversial social media post in which he said residents without electricity and water due to a winter storm are "lazy" and "weak," adding that local government and utility services owned them "nothing," ABC affiliate KTXS reported.

Now-former Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd called complaining constituents "socialist" and then told them: "the strong will survive and the weak will parish."

"Let me hurt some feelings while I have a minute!!" Boyd continued in his post. "No one owes you or your family anything; nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim it's your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!!"

He also complained that residents were looking for a "hand out" and told them to accept personal responsibility for being left in the cold.

If he came along asking me for help I'd say sink, asshole.

[clueliss]

Things learned last night/this morning via news regarding Texas Power Grid

Texas is mostly independent of the rest of the national grid.  Meaning there is a very limited ability to buy power from elsewhere.  (this is the ERCOT region for wholesale power - see the link I shared earlier). 

El Paso is not on ERCOT and doesn't have power issues - they are on the Southwest (no power issues) region (see link).  And Panhandle is in the Southwest Power Pool (has has power issues).

Texas (ERCOT) is mostly natural gas power plants.  The natural gas supply has not been winterized.  And they have limited storage because they are used to pulling it straight from the ground.  Which is why natural gas prices have skyrocketed (the city of Fulton Missouri spent $2m on natural gas in something like 4 days because the price went from $5.63/decatherm to $224/decatherm.

Fulton Missouri Financial Disaster due to Natural Gas Prices 

The Texas issue is NOT wind or solar energy - it's a natural gas issue. 

Gasoline prices are also going up because the refineries in Texas are closed. 

I watched part of a live stream that KMBC in KC had going on facebook last night from the SPP (Southwest Power Pool) - with wind energy - they rely on meteorologists being accurate and forecasts going out further than they used to so they can adjust power supply in the other plants to offset lower wind production. 

The Texas issue was compounded (heard this on CNBC first thing this morning) by the fact that the storm(s) that hit Texas were much worse than anticipated.   And, as I said earlier in this thread, Texas is not built for this.  They build with being cool in mind not in keeping warm in extreme cold.  So they aren't insulated like the northern parts of the country. 

adding - just saw this on Twitter

 

[clueliss]

 

[Alisamer]

16 hours ago, Tangy Bee said:

@indianabones, so sorry about your sister's pipes. Growing up, we had a pump house & well water, so we had to leave water dripping to prevent frozen pipes. I don't know if this is still standard for rural areas. Having a wood heater is a plus if power went out.

I have city water, and if I expect it to get down in the teens at night I will leave a small drip somewhere and open the cabinet doors under the sinks to let more heat in there. I don't know if it's necessary really, but I'd rather do that than deal with frozen pipes!

Also since it's unusually cold in the South, here's something I discovered just last year, that I had no idea about before: Old Navy makes "built-in warm jeans". I live in North Carolina so those will never show up in our stores, but today I'm wearing the one pair I have of them that I'd ordered online. They just have a thin built-in lining but it helps a bit. I know there are warmer and flannel lined things elsewhere, but I was thrilled to discover these. They're perfect for in between car and store or office but not too hot while indoors. 

The South is really not set up for that sort of cold, from the energy grid to the clothing options we have to road maintenance. I know from the outside it can be funny the way we freak out over snow, but imagine a place that normally gets only two or three inches of snow yearly, suddenly having to deal with feet of the stuff. The salt trucks and plows get cranked up maybe twice a year normally so I'm amazed when they work at all.

Texas as a state brought some of this on themselves, I just wish it would only affect the people causing the problem, not everyone.

[clueliss]

Mayor of Colorado City Texas Tells Resident to Fend for Themselves

"Only Strong Will Survive"


 

Quote

Texas mayor tells residents to fend for themselves during power outage: ‘Only the strong will survive’

Texas's independent power grid was crippled under high demand and damaging weather after a historic cold snap hit the U.S. over Presidents' Day weekend. (John Farrell/The Washington Post)

By

Antonia Noori Farzan

Feb. 17, 2021 at 4:05 a.m. CST

By Tuesday morning, the residents of Colorado City, Tex., were getting anxious. More than 24 hours had passed since a deadly Arctic blast knocked out power across the state, leaving them without heat or electricity in below-freezing temperatures. To make matters worse, many also lacked running water, forcing them to haul in heavy buckets of snow each time they needed to flush their toilets.

Residents turned to a community Facebook group to ask whether the small town planned to open warming shelters, while others wondered if firefighters could do their job without water. But when Colorado City’s mayor chimed in, it was to deliver a less-than-comforting message: The local government had no responsibility to help out its citizens, and only the tough would survive.

“No one owes you [or] your family anything,” Tim Boyd wrote on Tuesday in a now-deleted Facebook post, according to KTXS and KTAB/KRBC. “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout!”

 

Boyd’s tirade, which also demanded that “lazy” residents find their own ways of procuring water and electricity, immediately drew backlash. Later on Tuesday, Boyd announced his resignation and admitted that he could have “used better wording.”

Dangerous Arctic chill leaves more than a dozen dead, widespread power outages across the southern U.S.

For this Texas family, a struggle to stay warm

 

 

Millions of Texans are enduring freezing temperatures amid a large-scale failure of the state’s power grid. (Lindsey Sitz, Spike Johnson/The Washington Post)

The controversy highlighted how one of the worst winter storms in decades is testing the limits of the embrace of self-sufficiency and rugged individualism in Texas. The state’s decision to skirt federal oversight by operating its own power grid is one of the main reasons that close to 3.3 million residents in Texas still lacked electricity by early Wednesday morning, while outages in other hard-hit states had dwindled to less than one-tenth of that size. As of late Tuesday, grid operators still couldn’t predict when the lights might turn on, and advocates were warning that Texas’s poorest and most vulnerable residents were at risk of freezing to death. At least 10 deaths in Texas have been linked to the winter storm since Monday, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The failure to deliver basic services has angered countless Texans, including top-ranking elected officials. But in Colorado City, Boyd rejected the notion that municipal governments or utility companies had any obligation to provide paying customers with necessities like heat and running water during a catastrophic winter storm.

 

“The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!” he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

Boyd suggested that residents without electricity should simply “step up and come up with a game plan.” Those without running water could either deal with it, or “think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family.” He did not offer any further guidance, such as where safe drinking water or reliable electricity could be found.

“Only the strong will survive and the weak will [perish],” he wrote.

The Texas grid got crushed because its operators didn’t see the need to prepare for cold weather

Colorado City, home to roughly 4,000 people, is located between Abilene and the twin cities of Midland and Odessa, in a part of West Texas that’s best known for high school football and oil field jobs. Below-freezing temperatures aren’t uncommon in winter as winds sweep across the plains, but losing heat, power, water and the ability to cook at the same time was an unpleasant new experience for many in the area.

 

Although authorities across Texas encouraged residents to hunker down until power could be restored and avoid driving on dangerously icy roads, Boyd categorized those who were camped out in frigid homes and waiting for assistance as “lazy.”

“Folks God has given us the tools to support ourselves in times like this,” he wrote, claiming that those who expected the city to come to their aid were “sadly a product of a socialist government.”

In reality, community members were doing their best to help one another, offering to trudge through the snow to pick up supplies for neighbors or share water from their private wells. And as critics pointed out, even trying to access the emergency preparedness guide on Colorado City’s official webpage led to an error message.

Facing mounting anger on Tuesday, Boyd claimed that his comments “were taken out of context” and did not apply to the elderly, then continued to double down.

 

“I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout,” he wrote in a post that was later deleted, according to local media outlets.

Boyd also claimed that he was speaking in his capacity as a private citizen, and had already resigned from his position as mayor of Colorado City. He added that his wife had been fired from her job “over things I said” and said that his family was facing “undeserved” harassment and death threats.

“I won’t share any of those messages from those names as I feel they know who they are and hope after they see this they will retract the hateful things they have said!” he wrote.

Boyd could not be reached for comment late Tuesday night, and it wasn’t immediately clear if he resigned before or after writing his controversial Facebook post. As of early Wednesday morning, he was still listed as mayor on Colorado City’s website, and city council agendas showed that he had served in that role as recently as last week.

 

 

[Alisamer]

2 hours ago, clueliss said:

Mayor of Colorado City Texas Tells Resident to Fend for Themselves

"Only Strong Will Survive"


 

 

Talk about saying the quiet part out loud...

I'm betting this guy either still has power, or has a good generator and private well, so is basically unaffected. I'd also not be surprised if he's the sort who refuses to donate to charities that help people in need, since they should just "stop being lazy" and "find a way". 

I hope the people who ARE in need, are listening. And I hope they're beginning to realize exactly why safety nets are not a bad thing. 

[RosyDaisy]

Round 2 of ice and snow is about to begin here.  Wonderful.  Did Mother Nature forget that Alabama is in the south and not supposed to have this many winter storms in a year, let alone in a week?

[Howl]

Hi, y'all. This thread just caught me up on what's going on since I hadn't heard any news  (except a few minutes of NPR in the car) since the power went out on Sunday here in Central TX. Thanks everyone for reporting on the natural gas situation. 

And **** Greg Abbott, our governor, for trying to blame the outage on renewables. 

My city (Austin) just set a record for 6 days of temps 32 degrees and below. We've had some of the lowest temps since weather records were first recorded in the late 1890s. 

Feeling WARM right now because out electricity just turned back on.  It went out Sunday evening, came on for an hour at 2 am Monday night, and for 20 minutes yesterday (Wednesday). So,  essentially no heat since Sunday night.  At least we have gas so we can cook on our stove and have hot water from our gas water heater.  Yesterday, I put milk, OJ and meat in a little cooler on the north side of the house and packed it with snow, because even though the refrigerator hasn't run, it's not keeping food cool enough to be safe from spoiling. 

Because every household is dripping their faucets to keep pipes from freezing,  there has been unprecedented city-wide water use, the water treatment plant went down briefly so we're under a boil-water alert. 

We still have wintry mix forecast for today and by tomorrow/Saturday we'll have temps above freezing.  This being Texas, we'll be back up to a high of  70 by next Wednesday! 

For those of you with "real" winters, keep in mind that about half of Texas has some winters with no freezing temps, a snow every four or five years and in years when it does freeze,  maybe one to three nights each winter with a hard freeze of, say, 26 degrees.  There are no snow plows & some limited ability to sand icy bridges.  Almost every grocery store, schools, everything is shut down, no mail, no trash service, no nothing.  A bazillion car accidents.  The city's water main downtown has burst. 

Oddly, others of our family and friends in different neighborhoods in Austin never lost power. 

Crazy times.  I hope whoever is reading this is faring better.  We were inconvenienced but certainly not suffering.  There are many who are suffering and in absolutely desperate circumstances.  

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Howl

[church_of_dog]

 

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Hi, y'all. This thread just caught me up on what's going on since I hadn't heard any news  (except a few minutes of NPR in the car) since the power went out on Sunday here in Central TX. Thanks everyone for reporting on the natural gas situation. 

And **** Greg Abbott, our governor, for trying to blame the outage on renewables. 

My city (Austin) just set a record for 6 days of temps 32 degrees and below. We've had some of the lowest temps since weather records were first recorded in the late 1890s. 

Feeling WARM right now because out electricity just turned back on.  It went out Sunday evening, came on for an hour at 2 am Monday night, and for 20 minutes yesterday (Wednesday). So,  essentially no heat since Sunday night.  At least we have gas so we can cook on our stove and have hot water from our gas water heater.  Yesterday, I put milk, OJ and meat in a little cooler on the north side of the house and packed it with snow, because even though the refrigerator hasn't run, it's not keeping food cool enough to be safe from spoiling. 

Because every household is dripping their faucets to keep pipes from freezing,  there has been unprecedented city-wide water use, the water treatment plant went down briefly so we're under a boil-water alert. 

We still have wintry mix forecast for today and by tomorrow/Saturday we'll have temps above freezing.  This being Texas, we'll be back up to a high of  70 by next Wednesday! 

For those of you with "real" winters, keep in mind that about half of Texas has some winters with no freezing temps, a snow every four or five years and in years when it does freeze,  maybe one to three nights each winter with a hard freeze of, say, 26 degrees.  There are no snow plows & some limited ability to sand icy bridges.  Almost every grocery store, schools, everything is shut down, no mail, no trash service, no nothing.  A bazillion car accidents.  The city's water main downtown has burst. 

Oddly, others of our family and friends in different neighborhoods in Austin never lost power. 

Crazy times.  I hope whoever is reading this is faring better.  We were inconvenienced but certainly not suffering.  There are many who are suffering and in absolutely desperate circumstances.  

 

In case you haven't heard yet:

 

[Loveday]

36 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

In case you haven't heard yet:

 

I'm filled with fury and rage over this, and I don't live anywhere near Texas. I can't even begin to imagine how Texans must feel right now.

 

[OldFadedStar]

So, the nuclear power plant in South Texas that had gone offline because it was frozen? 

It was because they didn't build a building around something. If they had done what they were supposed to and built that building it wouldn't have frozen over. My husband works at another nuclear plant and when he found out that they froze over he got real confused and looked into it.

[Cartmann99]

Spoiler

 

Cruz likes to use the phrase "Texas Tough" to describe himself, but when that so-called toughness is required, he hops on a plane to Mexico and then attempts to hide behind his children when he gets caught.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

9 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Cruz likes to use the phrase "Texas Tough" to describe himself, but when that so-called toughness is required, he hops on a plane to Mexico and then attempts to hide behind his children when he gets caught.

 

I had a pretty indulgent father, but it never occurred to me to ask for a spur of the moment vacation because school was cancelled due to weather.

I'm sure his lies and excuses are totally relatable to those of his constituents who aren't living a "fly to Cancun on a whim" lifestyle.

[Not that josh's mom]

11 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I had a pretty indulgent father, but it never occurred to me to ask for a spur of the moment vacation because school was cancelled due to weather.

I'm sure his lies and excuses are totally relatable to those of his constituents who aren't living a "fly to Cancun on a whim" lifestyle.

But I tead that it was a "long planned" trip. Maybe his idea of long planned isn't the same as mine. I'd think months at least, rather than hours. 

[Caroline]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Hi, y'all. This thread just caught me up on what's going on since I hadn't heard any news  (except a few minutes of NPR in the car) since the power went out on Sunday here in Central TX. Thanks everyone for reporting on the natural gas situation. 

And **** Greg Abbott, our governor, for trying to blame the outage on renewables. 

My city (Austin) just set a record for 6 days of temps 32 degrees and below. We've had some of the lowest temps since weather records were first recorded in the late 1890s. 

Feeling WARM right now because out electricity just turned back on.  It went out Sunday evening, came on for an hour at 2 am Monday night, and for 20 minutes yesterday (Wednesday). So,  essentially no heat since Sunday night.  At least we have gas so we can cook on our stove and have hot water from our gas water heater.  Yesterday, I put milk, OJ and meat in a little cooler on the north side of the house and packed it with snow, because even though the refrigerator hasn't run, it's not keeping food cool enough to be safe from spoiling. 

Because every household is dripping their faucets to keep pipes from freezing,  there has been unprecedented city-wide water use, the water treatment plant went down briefly so we're under a boil-water alert. 

We still have wintry mix forecast for today and by tomorrow/Saturday we'll have temps above freezing.  This being Texas, we'll be back up to a high of  70 by next Wednesday! 

For those of you with "real" winters, keep in mind that about half of Texas has some winters with no freezing temps, a snow every four or five years and in years when it does freeze,  maybe one to three nights each winter with a hard freeze of, say, 26 degrees.  There are no snow plows & some limited ability to sand icy bridges.  Almost every grocery store, schools, everything is shut down, no mail, no trash service, no nothing.  A bazillion car accidents.  The city's water main downtown has burst. 

Oddly, others of our family and friends in different neighborhoods in Austin never lost power. 

Crazy times.  I hope whoever is reading this is faring better.  We were inconvenienced but certainly not suffering.  There are many who are suffering and in absolutely desperate circumstances.  

 

I live in New England and grew up here.  I've seen my share of weather related power outages, and it's no fun whether it's 12 hours or 6 days.  Yes, several years ago we lost our power and water (because we have a well) for six long days and nights.  Luckily it happened in March, after an ice storm,  so the temperatures were cold, but not below freezing.  That horrible event made us realize we needed to buy some kind of emergency generator, and many of our neighbors installed whole house generators.  The difference here is, as you pointed out, that we know how to clean up the snow fast and have the equipment, we all grew up driving in bad conditions so we can get to restaurants and grocery stores which almost never close, and everyone has a neighbor with a wood stove who would let you stay in their home with no problem.  All of you in Texas have all my sympathy.  It looks like everyone is duly appalled at the behavior of certain Republican politicians in Texas, and I hope those people will pay in some way for their arrogance.  Lookin' at you Ted Cruz - Yuck!

[Loveday]

14 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I had a pretty indulgent father, but it never occurred to me to ask for a spur of the moment vacation because school was cancelled due to weather.

I'm sure his lies and excuses are totally relatable to those of his constituents who aren't living a "fly to Cancun on a whim" lifestyle.

Yeah, people are freezing to death on the streets in Texas this week, while Ted teaches his daughters that it's okay to fly away from problems like that. The privilege reeks unto the next generation. ?

[Alisamer]

51 minutes ago, OldFadedStar said:

So, the nuclear power plant in South Texas that had gone offline because it was frozen? 

It was because they didn't build a building around something. If they had done what they were supposed to and built that building it wouldn't have frozen over. My husband works at another nuclear plant and when he found out that they froze over he got real confused and looked into it.

It basically sounds like those in charge of power in Texas basically just shrugged and did the bare minimum, figuring it'd never get that cold for that long there. Because everything I've heard that happened seems to be something that should be, but ISN'T a problem in many other areas of the world.

I get not being prepared for this. I really do, I live in NC where a snowflake appears and the stores are suddenly all out of bread and milk. But the power grid? Really? We've had ours go out in similar circumstances, but it was entirely due to damage - tons of power lines down, for example. It sounds like what is happening in TX seems to be more along the lines of lack of preparation by the people in charge. 

Also, sure, if I lived in Texas and could fly anywhere I wanted at a moment's notice, I'd have got the hell out, too. But I'm not an elected official expected to provide some leadership, either. 

[Caroline]

15 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I had a pretty indulgent father, but it never occurred to me to ask for a spur of the moment vacation because school was cancelled due to weather.

I'm sure his lies and excuses are totally relatable to those of his constituents who aren't living a "fly to Cancun on a whim" lifestyle.

I didn't grow up in the land of 'let's take a trip to another country because it's too cold here' either, and I still don't inhabit that land.  As a child I might have thought:  Let's go to the movies to cool off this afternoon because it's really hot out, but taking a spur of the moment trip?  Talk about privilege, Ted.  He's not even smart enough to realize that what he says and did wreaks of privilege.   And he's raisin another generation.....

[Cartmann99]

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

2 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

Well Ted Cruz is known for being a fashion maven and must have a plethora of stylish ensembles from which to choose at all times.  

The douche is smiling with his eyes....and I didn't think I could hate him more.