TROUBLE IN TEXAS. Mother nature is fierce, unforgiving, and harsh—especially when we least expect it. And, in the past couple of weeks, no state has had to learn that better than Texas. With frigid temperatures, state-wide power outages, and an entire population unfamiliar with aggressive winter weather, the period of February storms was a disaster waiting to happen.
Trouble in Texas
A brief recap of the tragic weather damage from past storms
Mother nature is fierce, unforgiving, and harsh—especially when we least expect it. And, in the past couple of weeks, no state has had to learn that better than Texas. With frigid temperatures, state-wide power outages, and an entire population unfamiliar with aggressive winter weather, the period of February storms was a disaster waiting to happen.
Christina Maxouris from CNN summed up that devastating time by stating, “Millions lost their power, forcing families to huddle over a fireplace, scavenge for firewood or spend nights in their car trying to stay warm. Others spent hours searching for food as shelves emptied and weather conditions led to food supply chain problems.”
What began as a merely forecasted ‘heavier-than-normal’ snowstorm led to becoming one of the costliest weather events in Texas history. Why? Because the circumstances could simply have not been expected.
Texas residents who had never dealt with these crazy winter road conditions were met with icy streets, which only resulted in increased traffic accidents. Local buildings and homes that were not designed to be insulated for cold weather, in turn, only added upon the issue of finding heat. A number of citizens without access generators or other emergency heating measures turned to dire choices, such as sleeping in running cars and risking carbon monoxide poisoning.
In short, nobody could have known this was coming.
According to the Weather Channel, “The Galveston airport had its first official measurable snow since Dec. 10, 2008…, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston all had their coldest temperatures since December 1989 on Monday morning…, and Sunday was the snowiest single calendar day on record in both Abilene and San Angelo, Texas.”
And as if all these record-breaking statistics were not bad enough, the COVID-19 pandemic added even more stress and chaos to the situation. Vaccination appointments were delayed and a number of hospitals even had to send their doses elsewhere due to the dangerous weather. Austin Public Health announced that “rescheduling for vaccine appointments was underway for the estimated 3,300 patients who had appointments canceled starting on Feb. 13.”
So, even though Texas is currently well on its way to recovery from the tragic storms, a lesson has been learned from these eventful weeks. No matter how hard we try, some things will always be out of our control. And the best thing we can do is help those around us and have a heart for those hurting.
Send your love to those in Texas and please consider donating to any relief funds linked below.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/mutualaidhou
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/
https://feedthepeopledallas.com/
https://www.centraltexasfoodbank.org/get-involved/donate