I was born and raised in Texas, and I’ve never seen anything quite like the winter storm that froze my home state last week. A blanket of snow and ice covered my neighborhood and for most of the week the roads remained undrivable. Everything from grocery stores to public schools was shut down, and even public services such as garbage collection and mail delivery came to a halt – so much for the US Postal Service’s motto.
I was fortunate, and avoided the worst impacts of the storms' affect on the state’s infrastructure. My home only lost power a few times, while millions of Texans lost power for days, and my water service was relatively unaffected, while more than 8 million Texans remain this week under boil water notices.
It wasn’t just the amount of snow and ice or the days of sub-freezing temperatures, but the feeling of isolation that was the result of constantly changing information and the uncertainty of when and for how long you might lose power.
