After the Texas snow storm and freeze.

[KARNUT]

I lucked out. I happen to have a co-op. Mid south electric and water. I also have a gas-wood fireplace. I’m 40 miles north of Houston. Mid south electric was requested to do rolling black outs. I was turned off two hours at the most. Water kept flowing. They always kept me abreast through e-mail. I wrapped and dripped. At the worst at night, there were two. I got up every two hours ran water and went back to bed. The trouble spot was the cold to the washer. I would unhook it put in the washer it would free up. I debated whether to do the turn off and drain. I figured I had it covered. For all the people that had broken pipes. I hope they make a mental note to self. Under 25 degrees shut off and drain. As far as I’m concerned no excuse for the electric companies performance, none. They had plenty of warnings. People with broken pipes, that’s on them. Do diligence.

 

 

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[lonestardiver]

As with many “storms” there are some people that don’t prepare because they are not aware of it coming....situational awareness or lack of.

Up here in the DFW area we got as low as -4 (at least on the NW side of FW). The only time I didn’t have water was when the rural water supply company was unable to pump it for whatever reason.

I only was without power for 4.5 hours Sunday night but had propane, a wood fireplace, and Coleman lanterns for light/heat.

I kept the propane heater running in the kitchen area since most of the water lines ran to adjoining rooms. I had a electric space heater running in the master bath at the other end of the house. I kept all faucets dripping.

Our biggest water consumer is our 3 dogs who will drink 3 gallons of water every 24-36 hours.

The only thing I didn’t have ready and in the house was the firewood so I had to spilt some as needed but it was seasoned.

My biggest downside to the whole event was the gerbil that t-boned my truck at an intersection because he was not driving to the road conditions and slid through the stop sign. The written visual estimate at the Chevy house is about $12k and will go up from there once they get into it.

[KARNUT]

I was tracking the cold front for a week prior. I thought it was the usual hysteria the weather people usually predict in advance. I prepared anyway. I didn’t venture out until this morning. Still ice spots on bridges.


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[CamGTP]

Only getting to -4 sounds like a walk in the park where I am from lol.

 

Jokes aside it's crazy to see how things did and didn't work for the southern states when it's a yearly thing for us. Just seems crazy that people and huge companies didn't see this coming. History repeats itself all the time, it's been this cold before, maybe not in the majority of these peoples lifetimes but it's happened before and will happen again someday.

[Grumpy Bear]

One thing I noticed during the TV coverage was the newer homes that were water damaged by burst piping that showed drywall down were universally not insulated! I lived in El Paso for about a decade and neither of my single level ranch style homes built in the 70's were insulated and yet both had the water run in the ceiling. 

[jnissen]

While some builders may have skimped nearly every home I’ve been in in the last 30 years down here have insulated walls and ceilings. Yes they do stupid things like run water pipes in outer walls and in attics. I’ve got a water heater in my attic (yeah dumbest idea I’ve ever seen) that was part of the original plan. All the pipes are insulated and I had no problems, but my heat didn’t go out!

 

BTW nice and warm this week.

[KARNUT]

72 today 75 tomorrow. Got rent house ready during all this. On the market 12 hours. Done deal. What a difference a week makes.


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[Bash74]

The parents are old so I made sure to cold proof the house. They have 2 generators, pellet stove, all water pipes/lines are wrapped with heating cables. They are also on well water. I did this a few years ago just in case Texas had the cold hit and now I am glad I did it.

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