A freak massive Texas storm has left millions of Texans in the dark desperate for heat and safety
The following written content from SHANNON NAJMABADI AND MARISSA MARTINEZ
Texas residents said the storm — and ensuing partial collapse of the state’s power system — sapped what mental reserves they had left after eleven months of a global health crisis that has cost thousands of jobs and claimed more than 40,000 lives in the state.
A grandmother slept in her car. Parents who ran out of firewood burned belongings to keep their children warm. A Richardson resident watched the battery level of her partner’s oxygen machine drain away and desperately sought help to have it recharged.
As Texas utility operators and politicians squabbled over responsibility for “load shedding” and “rolling blackouts” Tuesday, many residents scrambled simply to stay warm and alive.
Millions suffered through Monday night without power as a massive winter blitz sent temperatures plunging, shuttered grocery stores and caused widespread outages. With little certainty of when power would be restored — and politicians angrily blaming the state’s grid operator — thousands were left facing another night in brutal, potentially life-threatening conditions. At least ten deaths have been linked to the disaster, and hundreds of people who live on the streets are being directed to seek life-saving refuge at shelters.
Texas residents said the storm — and ensuing partial collapse of the state’s power system — sapped what mental reserves they had left after eleven months of a global health crisis that has cost thousands of jobs and claimed more than 40,000 lives in the state.
“To go through all of that and then also to have stuff like this happen, it’s like, ‘One more historical event, and I’m going to develop PTSD,’” said Brianna Blake, 31, a mother of two sons. “I cannot do this.”
Blake’s family moved to Texas from Ohio this summer after her husband was laid off due to the pandemic, and a tornado hit their home, destroying nearly “everything.”
They tried to stock up on water and firewood after they lost power Monday, but the shelves of local gas stations were cleared out and grocery stores were closed. They couldn’t find a room at hotels in nearby Mathis and Beeville, Blake said.
Instead, they nestled a futon mattress and every comforter they owned near the fireplace, and slept in a pile until 3 a.m. when the couple noticed the fire was dying down. In desperation, Blake pulled a piece of canvas artwork off the wall of their Portland home and snapped it. There was “no alternative” to keep the heat going, she said.
It was the “most helpless feeling as a mom” watching her 4-year-old and 7-year-old sons sleep, “blissfully unaware” of what their parents were doing, Blake said.
“The bare minimum is providing them with shelter and warmth and food — that’s our bare minimum job” as parents, she said, growing emotional.“It was just heartbreaking to know that my children who … we’ve all been through a hard year, these boys were going … to wake up freezing, that they were going to wake up cold, I would have broken every belonging that belonged to me to prevent that from happening.” Read more from Texas Tribune
