A Frigid Mother

"Plumbing is beyond my skillset."

"Thanks for your help, Marshall," I said, shaking his hand.

"You bet. I have twenty crews out today. They're all doing the same sort of thing right now," he said, then began walking back to his house.

I went back home and described to Abby what'd been done. She'd already spoken via telephone with her husband, Frank, and they both agreed to let me help do whatever needed doing to get them up and running again.

I posted a message to the neighborhood's Facebook group. Anyone have a couple of half-inch Sharkbite caps they don't think they'll need?

I received a Messenger chat. Busted pipe?

Yes.

Copper or PEX?

Copper

I don't have Sharks, but I have pre-soldered caps I can sweat on. Where do you need me?

I sent the address.

An individual I'd never met made the temporary repair about an hour later and walked away with nothing but his portable torch and a handshake.

Similar chatter lit up the neighborhood board. Neighbors helped neighbors, even if they didn't personally know them. Such things were happening all over the state.

Feeling a little paranoid, I went to the sink in our house which was left dripping and closed the handles. I uncovered our own water meter and was relieved to see the little needle completely motionless which meant water wasn't escaping somewhere unknown. I didn't tempt fate, though, so I opened the faucet again just to stay on the safe side.

After that night's dinner, we settled Abby and her kids into two unused bedrooms and made sure they were comfortable. Her husband arrived home the following day on the first flight he could secure.

Friday, February 19, 2021, 1:22pm

The outdoor temperature is at 33 degrees, above freezing.

In the right conditions, snow will melt even at below-freezing temperatures, and had been doing so for a day because the sun had come out. Snow on roofs melted first, then lawns started revealing the tips of dormant grass. Finally, sidewalks and streets began to clear.

People are moving around more.

As of right now, there's still close to 200,000 Oncor meters without power, but that's down from about a million.

Thirteen million residents, nearly half of the state, are on boil notices. Why? Because broken water mains and damaged residential and commercial plumbing are draining water tanks and towers faster than they can be filled. Off-duty police officers and firemen, along with other volunteers, are rushing around their territories responding to emergency calls to shut water off wherever leaks are being discovered.

The weather forecast for the following week is spectacular, with a high of nearly seventy degrees expected in five days.

Beautiful weather will soon expose horrible conditions on the ground. It'll be what is often experienced after an afternoon tornado. Clear, dry skies often follow devastation.

As of two hours ago, the new President of the United States has declared the entire state of Texas a disaster area, and federal help, whatever that turns out to be, is on its way.

It's not over. It won't be over for months. Many neighbors, friends, and coworkers will be hurting for quite a long while.

EPILOGUE

It was 7:40pm, 2/19/2021, when the "Publish" button was first clicked.

It's now November of 2022 as we submit this revision.

Within a week of the event, five ERCOT board members resigned, all of whom reside outside of the state of Texas. On March 3, the CEO was fired.

By March 16, every commissioner on the Public Utility Commission of Texas resigned.

For context, winter storms aren't named by any official agency. A commercial entity named the winter storm "Uri," and most media outlets refer to it by that name. According to one newspaper article:

… a Texas-based economic research firm … projected that Winter Storm Uri could end up costing a total of $195 billion on the low end and as much as $295 billion. Those figures include lost income as well as long-term reduction in economic output stemming from factories and businesses that closed during the storm.

The winter storm Texans endured could cost more than hurricanes Harvey and Ike combined.

ERCOT, which sets wholesale power prices, set the cost of electricity at $9,000 per megawatt-hour, a "normal" step during an emergency. Like the vast majority of consumers that pay retail, not wholesale, our power bill wasn't affected. $9,000 per megawatt during the emergency equates to $9 per kilowatt-hour which is 100 times more than I pay, but there were consumers on wholesale plans such as Griddy which faced bills well into the thousands of dollars. One family I know has a typical winter bill of $100, but was billed almost $6,000 for the month of February.

Griddy filed for bankruptcy on March 15, stating in court filings that customers' bills would be forgiven as long as the customers agree not to sue. The court approved their plan, and most Griddy customers weren't forced to pay the bills.

The damage to our pool exceeded $10,000, and the repairs were completed on July 6, almost five months after the storm. Many pool repair contractors are still struggling to find parts, with some being told certain parts are backordered until October of 2022. We lucked into finding a pool construction company that has their own massive supply chain and were able to get ours back up and running. I've since directed a lot more business their way.

In April of 2021, we signed a contract to have a natural gas whole-home generator installed, but COVID, plus the surge in orders due to that winter event, pushed the initially estimated July 2021 installation to August 2022. The sound of it spooling up every Saturday at noon for its self-test is a reassurance.