This past week, a winter storm passed through Texas, leaving 563,000 homes without power and others without clean running water. This was eerily similar to the Great Texas Freeze which hit Texas during the week of February 14th, 2021.
The February 2021 North American Winter Storm was a winter storm that affected 170 million Americans nationwide. 9.9 million people were left without power due to a total power grid shutdown in Texas. In Texas, 246 people were killed as a direct result of the freeze though various other estimates place the death count at 702. The Texas Power grid shutdown was due to the failure of the State to winterize energy sources.
Due to the harshness of the February winter, the Texas power grid experienced a total shutdown. The power grid which covers most of Texas is disconnected from the main power grids in the US, the Eastern, and Western Interconnections. These grids cross multiple states and can be regulated by the Federal government, but can also be used to send power to other areas which are experiencing blackouts. The Texas power grid is independent of these, which means that it retains its independence, but in the case of the 2021 Storm, was left isolated.
Texas faced similar situations in 1989 and 2011 and was warned both times to winterize its power grid. Yet this was ignored due to the high cost of doing so.
During the storm, people died from causes such as hypothermia and carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that is extremely dangerous to inhale as it deprives vital body organs of oxygen. Carbon monoxide poisoning can occur when fumes are burnt and the carbon monoxide builds up inside the body in large amounts which can lead to death. During the Freeze, multiple people died due to carbon monoxide as they brought their cars and generators (which release harmful fumes) inside the house as a source of heat.
This winter storm started off in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington State) before moving down to Texas. Instead of snow like last time, the roads were covered with slippery and dangerous ice which restricted traffic, at least 10 people lost their lives due to car crashes tied to icy roads. The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport canceled more than 1000 flights due to the storm. Around the time this is written, on February 5th, a Sunday, the weather has returned to normal but power companies expect the outages to take multiple days to fix. The icy roads made it impossible for power companies to travel to affected areas to fix power lines, similar to what happened in February 2021 when the roads were covered with snow. Luckily, the power outage did not happen due to a large-scale grid shutdown but due to localized issues such as power lines falling due to the ice tugging on their foundations.
While my family got off easy this time around, with running water and electricity. Texas should heed the multiple warnings it has been given regarding the reliability of its energy infrastructure in extreme conditions.
