Welp. We did it again!
Every February, it seems, we get a little reminder that our state is wholly unprepared for winter weather. Of course, the 2021 freeze gets all the attention (as it should, it was AWFUL), but we shouldn’t overlook freezes that happened in 2022 and just this week in 2023. While they may not have had the size and scope as the 2021 freeze, they still brought life and work to a halt for hundreds of thousands.
At first, the freeze was fun (much like it was in 2021). We got out and about, making the most of what is still a relatively rare experience in south Texas.
But then hundreds of thousands of people started losing power (in some cases for several days), and trees unaccustomed to carrying the weight of so much ice began to snap across the state.
It feels like every time we get hit with one of these storms, we get a little more jaded about our state’s ability to respond and feel that if we are to continue to get through these storms year after, we need to plan to be without power or the public services we rely on day-to-day.
Until we see otherwise, we’re on our own, unfortunately.
Carlos Escobar 