Jared Evan

Up to 15 million Texans remain without heat and electricity as temperatures across the state are well below freezing. Another round of winter weather is battering parts of the state Wednesday morning, as many Texans have been without electricity since Sunday are desperately scrambling to find shelters.

Many are also demanding answers or the rolling blackouts, the average amount of snow was around 7 inches in Texas, with frigid temperatures. People are speculating as to what exactly is going on and how quickly things have deteriorated in many major cities such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin. All of the blackouts have been controlled by the utility companies  (rolling blackouts)

One Texan wrote on Twitter

“The line to get into HEB( gas station)  an hour before they open. I expect it to wrap around the building within the hour. Why? No power and most stores are closed. Why? Texas insulated and privatized the grid and failed to winterize it. Time to expropriate. It starts here!,” one Twitter user said. 

AP reported:

More than two dozen people have died in the extreme weather this week, some while struggling to find warmth inside their homes. In the Houston area, one family succumbed to carbon monoxide from car exhaust in their garage. Another perished as they used a fireplace to keep warm.

Record low temperatures were reported in city after city. Scientists say the polar vortex, a weather pattern that usually keeps to the Arctic, is increasingly spilling into lower latitudes and sticking around longer, and global warming caused by humans is partly responsible.

Utilities from Minnesota to Texas and Mississippi have implemented rolling blackouts to ease the burden on power grids straining to meet extreme demand for heat and electricity. In Mexico, rolling blackouts Tuesday covered more than one-third of the country after the storms in Texas cut the supply of imported natural gas.

Zero Hedge reported The cascading effect of blackouts and controlled power outages has resulted in some critical infrastructure such as cellular networks and water treatment plants going offline.

PJ Media reported

Jared Tennant, a drone pilot in central Texas, captured stunning images of how downtown Austin has been lit up during the power grid collapse while surrounding and more impoverished communities on the outskirts of town have had their power cut.

PJ media readers gave shocking accounts of what is going on in Texas

• Central Texas looking like a refugee situation of sorts… suburbs with power have homes with 10 to 15 or 20 people piled into living rooms with sleeping bags.
• Increasingly whole zip codes are being hit with not just power outage, but water system going down too either thru frozen or electrically damaged processing facilities or key pipes bursting.
• Anyone without power/water (now going on 2 to 3 days) is begging any friends or family in area still with power to take them in.
• Often multiple families are camped out in living rooms of those who still have power.
• Families are dropping off young children in residences & with neighbors that still have heat.
• Basically whole neighborhoods on other side of the highway with no power are “moving in” to neighbors’ homes on other side where power still exists.
• I’m getting phone calls from friends and elderly people in the community asking desperately for firewood. People are now running out of firewood and the couple grocery stores actually open for a few hours a day are constantly out.
• People are braving the iced-over roads to go looking for anyone with firewood.
• Any home that still has water is filling up jugs & bathtubs in expectation of water supply cut at any moment.
• The water situation is getting alarming.. especially many elderly now trapped in homes with no heat OR WATER.
• Local stores (the 2 or 3 that actually open) are limiting customers to 2 gallons of water each–it’s flying off the shelves
• Individuals with 4-wheel drive and/or jeeps have been seen picking up stranded strangers on side of road… often people are having to hike miles to an open corner store to raid the shelves for any canned food/or still available items.
• As vehicles get stuck and/or become inoperable due to extreme freeze… people have been seen hiking out of suburban neighborhoods to reach “civilization” (or any area still with power and water)
• People are also now living in their work offices and/or teachers bringing their family to school classrooms to live if school/office still has power/water.
• In many cases schools or some churches are not yet officially “warming centers”–yet people are basically squatting–entering any public place/room they can find that’s warm.
• For the most part, there’s almost zero snowplows/de-icing equipment particularly in mid- to small-sized towns and rural areas… last night’s layer of ice storm means many people now trapped in their powerless/waterless homes even if they want to leave for a warming center
• There’s no recourse, no answers… Oncor will not answer calls or give answers for days running. Civic services not responding… also local police departments are angrily demanding answers from the large energy companies
• Growing number of carbon monoxide poisonings in area and the state…people are lighting charcoal grills indoors, also running vehicles in garages

People are running out of food. Huge lines were seen at a grocery store in Houston’s suburb on Wednesday, social media captured the situation.

Bellaire, Texas (suburb of Houston) line to enter lone open grocery store! @HoustonChron #winterstorm2021 pic.twitter.com/sNdWkKEitE

— Marci Rosenberg (@360couture) February 17, 2021

Line of people outside a grocery store in Austin, Texas.
Only 15 items allowed at the checkout. pic.twitter.com/7uMJUy0cL9

— UncleRandom (@Random_Uncle_UK) February 17, 2021

line up at a grocery store in texas pic.twitter.com/FSFdQ8B01E

— blank (@your2ndgirl) February 17, 2021

line up at a grocery store in texas pic.twitter.com/FSFdQ8B01E

— blank (@your2ndgirl) February 17, 2021

Well, here’s what made me cry yesterday. This is the lobby of George Allen Courthouse yesterday. I’ve heard there are other leaks but don’t have confirmation. Video was taken by essential staff but I don’t know whom to credit. pic.twitter.com/7In5zEvXCr

— Melissa Bellan (@BellanMelissa) February 17, 2021

My entire tiktok fyp is flooded with videos like this of peoples’ homes in Texas.

The electric company is dead ass wrong for turning off power knowing pipes would bust in the cold. pic.twitter.com/r6pLwOiYMs

— fly cat lady (@fly_cat_lady) February 17, 2021