Is Tx the most unprepared state or what?

[Mobuck]

Just watching news reports and headlines about just how unprepared south Tx was/is.
I've been told I'm 'over prepared' due to my often double layer back up plans but I'm sure not standing line for a case of bottled water or a propane bottle refill.
I'm sure not all of Tx is in this shape-likely mostly the urban jungle areas.

 

[Captain America]

I think they were completely prepared, they prepared for the lie of global warming. That grid is designed for the Greta Thunberg future where there is no cold weather and it bit them in the behind. Notice the media coverage of this, ripping Ted Cruz, praising Biden for sending dirty diesel generators, and not a single story about the thousands of useless Teslas...hopefully some lessons were learned.

 

[blammer]

TX got hammered by a pretty unusual event. Low temps over a long period of time, add in snow and ice, it was freezing up both windmills and fossil fuel generation. Add to that the fact that this really cold weather covered the whole U.S. midsection, and there was little excess power pool electricity to share.

Of course, the more prepared individuals did a little better, but some had four days with no power or even potable water in the freezing cold. That's a lot of generator gas and water to store for a family.

That said, everyone should evaluate their comfort with preparedness. Also, how much is everyone willing to pay to beef up their own and public infrastructure.

Part of that preparedness is cultivating friendships with as many geographically separated friends you can to visit in an emergency.

 

[gunzo]

The one storm of it's type in a hundred years?

I wouldn't blame them for not buying a Billion dollars worth of equipment & never use it. Sure, they could use it now, but unless the planet does drastically change, they'd never use it again. Hopefully.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

No excuse for poor planning on the part of the utilities in Texas. If you are going to have your own grid without federal regulation you should at least be able to provide your people with food, water and electricity.

 

[Kevin]

It was unusual. For example, snow on the beach in Galveston. The style of houses down there are up on stilts; so if it freezes, yeah, pipes are going to burst. They are built to withstand hurricanes, not snow storms.

Plus, if you lose electricity, lots of people have swimming pools. Those pipes are all above ground. The pumps have to circulate water to keep from freezing. Without the electricity, those pipes will freeze. Not much you can do to prepare for that.

And the parts of Texas getting the news must be in a specific area. I don’t know of any jungle in Texas. But as far as Dallas goes, we lost electricity, but not for an extended amount of time. Thankfully. Fixing the burst pipes for the pool would not have been cheap.

Oh, and to answer your question in the heading, I would say, No. many states are just as equally unprepared for their own emergencies.

 

[The Norseman]

I think they are, but there are other Southern States too. Over the years they
have become complacent with the nice Weather down there and they figure
why improve anything.

This is the same mind set we can't get rid of, "This is the Way It's Always
Been". Remember we are a Creature of Habit.

With the Life Cycles of the Earth we will see more of these Storms, it's
probably Kamara for the way we treat the Earth.

Should have turned the Main House Water off, and crack those Faucets to
slightly drip.

 

[Fox Mike]

I cannot understand the problem with Cruz taking a trip and coming right back. Was electricity miraculously going to be restored if he hadn't left. Being unprepared there always has to be someone, other than ones self, to blame.

 

[Johnnu2]

Bless their hearts.... they probably believed that there actually ARE alternate sources of electricity that can be relied on.
Let us not fall into the same fallacy and, at the same time, let's pray for them all.

J.

 

[Mobuck]

Here's an example of what I consider preparedness: When we moved to this farm in 1980, we knew for absolute fact that snow would drift the roads closed sooner or later and often multiple times per winter. EVERY year about Thanksgiving Day, I and the kids mounted the dozer blade to the front of one of the big farm tractors and put the tire chains on. EVERY YEAR w/o fail. 2018 & 2019 that effort was wasted--didn't snow enough to make big drifts. That didn't stop me/us from mounting the dozer blade and installing tire chains this year.
Living in a "best case scenario" world is courting disaster. Why did all those folks just walk away and leave their water turned on? Couldn't they shut the water off SOMEWHERE to prevent flooding if/when the lines ruptured?

 

[Skoopski]

...thousands of useless Teslas

You know gas station gas pumps run on electricity right?

 

[Captain America]

...thousands of useless Teslas

You know gas station gas pumps run on electricity right?

Yes, I do.

 

[Dave P.]

Like I pointed out in the other thread, how much money do you want to spend to be prepared?
Do you spend for the scenario that is likely to happen every 25 years? How about maybe every 100?
Do you prepare for something that's never happened? After all, we have a greater than zero chance
of being hit by a large asteroid in the future, wanna build to maybe survive that?
Everybody can learn something from what happened, they just need to agree on how big
of an "adjustment" to buy.
How many dollars do you want to throw at the future possibility?
Dave

 

[MADDOG 521]

In Dallas and other cities I'm sure the utilities locked the shut-offs at the meters. The residents could not shut the water off. They had to call the city and wait for them to get there. As of yesterday permission was given to remove the locks anyway possible, but it's to late. As far as the flooded apartments, the occupants have NO WAY to shut anything off. They're at the mercy of management.

 

[Muley Gil]

"Part of that preparedness is cultivating friendships with as many geographically separated friends you can to visit in an emergency."

Just don't go to Cancun. :D

Seriously, if you had the means to take your family somewhere away from the storm, wouldn't you? When hurricanes are likely, the governors tell folks to evacuate. What's wrong with evacuating to Cancun? After all, Ted Cruz is a US senator. He has nothing to do with how the State of Texas handles this problem. The lamestream media just wants to hit on any and all Republicans. :(

 

[turd]

TX got hammered by a pretty unusual event. Low temps over a long period of time, add in snow and ice, it was freezing up both windmills and fossil fuel generation. Add to that the fact that this really cold weather covered the whole U.S. midsection, and there was little excess power pool electricity to share.

Of course, the more prepared individuals did a little better, but some had four days with no power or even potable water in the freezing cold. That's a lot of generator gas and water to store for a family.

That said, everyone should evaluate their comfort with preparedness. Also, how much is everyone willing to pay to beef up their own and public infrastructure.

Part of that preparedness is cultivating friendships with as many geographically separated friends you can to visit in an emergency.

This. Thank you for spreading truth.

 

[Phoenix too]

Some things one just can’t pass up:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/styles/large/public/2017-08/gpp_map-electric-power-grid.png

Texas, the Lone Star State!

And, from FOX News, so it must be true!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-houston-relief-aid-texans-weather-crisis

I've friends in Texas, and it's been tough sledding for certain. My sympathies if you're among them.

 

[RSIno1]

No excuse for poor planning on the part of the utilities in Texas. If you are going to have your own grid without federal regulation you should at least be able to provide your people with food, water and electricity.

The problem comes from the simple fact all the power companies are mothballing their coal and gas plants rather than keeping them running at a minimum capacity in case of an emergency. Does anybody notice that Europe doesn't have these problems? Their nukes just keep on cranking out power even when it's cold and dark outside with nary a breeze.

 

[gramps]

Oh yeah, nuclear power is the bomb? What to do with all the spent radioactive fuel rods? Don’t hear about that anymore, or Three Mile Island debacle or Chernobyl etc
gramps

 

[NikA]

There was a reactor shut down at South Texas NPS due to the cold weather. Turns out that when your plant depends in any way on having running water, you had better winterize it if there's a forecast for extended freezing temperatures.

 

[Mobuck]

"How many dollars do you want to throw at the future possibility?"

As much as it takes or as far into that gamble as I can afford.
Priorities, priorities, priorities.

"In Dallas and other cities I'm sure the utilities locked the shut-offs at the meters. The residents could not shut the water off. They had to call the city and wait for them to get there. As of yesterday permission was given to remove the locks anyway possible, but it's to late."
In that case, the city should be totally responsible, right???

 

[txramfan]

"How many dollars do you want to throw at the future possibility?"

As much as it takes or as far into that gamble as I can afford.
Priorities, priorities, priorities.

"In Dallas and other cities I'm sure the utilities locked the shut-offs at the meters. The residents could not shut the water off. They had to call the city and wait for them to get there. As of yesterday permission was given to remove the locks anyway possible, but it's to late."
In that case, the city should be totally responsible, right???

There is a tool sold at hardware stores that is used to access and shut off the water at the meter. Shaped like a t. One end removes the plastic cover ( its horrible see below) the other end is used to shut off the water before the meter.

There is also a tool that only removes the plastic cover, it works. I have both.

Screwdrivers also work with a little effort to remove the cover. I did that for years.

I received automated calls from the city alerting me to cut off the water if a pipe burst and the city has a video on line showing how to do it which was also mentioned during the calls.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Many years ago, the small town in which I then lived experienced a failure of the town's natural gas distribution system to the degree that they had to shut it down completely. While the problem was being worked on, they sent guys out to turn off EVERY GAS METER IN TOWN, both domestic and commercial. Every one. At each location they pointed out to the folks involved that they had to do this because any gas appliances, water heaters, furnaces, etc, that were on the property would have to have their pilot lights re-lit when the gas service was restored. They warned everyone to to NOT turn the meters back on, that the service folks would be around again to do so and re-light anything that required it. They did so about a day later. Fortunately, the winter weather was not severely cold at the time.

After the fact it was asked why the meters were not locked off to prevent premature opening, and it was admitted that there simply weren't that many appropriate padlocks in the whole town. I don't recall that there were any cases where someone turned their meter back on prematurely.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

" A Country Boy Can Survive"
Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Not my first Rodeo
Went 72 hrs without power to heat the house. But fired up the 4kw generator to supply elect to some lights, refrigerator, got to keep the beer cold, TV, and one small 1500 wt heater. When the power first went off I filled the sinks, tub and pots and a 5gal jug for drinking water with the residue water from the well pressure tk. When the pressure was gone I then drained all the pipes and closed off the well. I did not want the well to fill the pipes up until I was sure the power would stay on. It got to 50F in the house so I got out my cold weather gear that I used while working a winter in Russia and used it to keep Wifie warm. Happy Wife Happy life. :D Have plenty of propane grills and elect skillets to cook on along with plenty of food. Plus got 100-150 Gal of Av. gas in the hangar so the Gen.is happy. :D Wifie made big pots of Chili, and Taco soup before the power went of.
Power came on and no problems all is good 70f today.
God Bless Texas.
As to the original post. Yes some people do not prepare oh well Ya can't fix STOOOPID.
And Kevin there are a few pipes other than pool pipes broken.

 

[gunzo]

" A Country Boy Can Survive"
Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Not my first Rodeo
Went 72 hrs without power to heat the house. But fired up the 4kw generator to supply elect to some lights, refrigerator, got to keep the beer cold, TV, and one small 1500 wt heater. When the power first went off I filled the sinks, tub and pots and a 5gal jug for drinking water with the residue water from the well pressure tk. When the pressure was gone I then drained all the pipes and closed off the well. I did not want the well to fill the pipes up until I was sure the power would stay on. It got to 50F in the house so I got out my cold weather gear that I used while working a winter in Russia and used it to keep Wifie warm. Happy Wife Happy life. :D Have plenty of propane grills and elect skillets to cook on along with plenty of food. Plus got 100-150 Gal of Av. gas in the hangar so the Gen.is happy. :D Wifie made big pots of Chili, and Taco soup before the power went of.
Power came on and no problems all is good 70f today.
God Bless Texas.
As to the original post. Yes some people do not prepare oh well Ya can't fix STOOOPID.
And Kevin there are a few pipes other than pool pipes broken.

This to a T. I feel for the folks down there, but don't blame the state for not being prepared for something that happens once a century. No contracts guaranteeing clean roads, electricity or water.

Like ole Jim says, "plan for it"

My bud said just today, "folks need to learn to have a can of beans or 2 on the shelf, maybe a few more things"
The lessons are present, learn & adjust. This, in a nutshell.

 

[Kevin]

Glad you are all right Jim. Yeah, I'm reading the news about all the burst pipes in Texas. It's funny how some people lost electricity for a long period of time, and others not at all really. Our house was ok, but my wife did lose a lot of her plants outside. She brought some inside, but not all of them.

The grocery stores are all empty, we are all right on food. But there are a lot of people who simply can't afford to keep much food in the refrigerator. Those are the people who are really hurting right now.

 

[powder smoke]

Their infrastructure was built for Texas not Blizzards like the North. Freezing rain is Baaad news!

New England and Canada got hit real bad withe the great Ice storm of 1998. I was not pleasant
but we all made it threw. Texas was not accustom to that type of weather. Neither was New England and Canada.
Arm chair warriors know best :roll: Ok easy to judge! Try living threw it
In '98 we were without power for weeks we could see whole mountain sides without a single tree standing.
All snaped off from the weight of the ice. Yes it was winter. I'll never ever forget it. Pray for Texas!! ps

Here is a link if anyone who may be interested. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=great+ice+storm+of+1998

 

[arfmel]

Some of us were well prepared, but found ourselves hundreds of miles from home and our supplies and equipment, for various reasons.

 

[WAYNO]

Out West, we experience wind storms, ice storms, snow storms, wildfires, floods, and even volcanoes. We know these natural disasters are a fact of life.

On many occasions I have endured prolonged power outages. These outages are incredibly wide spread. Even the storm from 2-weeks ago still has thousands without power.

When I see the power company crews from many states working around the clock to restore power, I surely am not blaming them or the government for a lack of preparation. I can't imagine Houston needing equipment yards full of snowplows, just in case. :mrgreen:

These huge acts of God cannot be prevented or completely prepared for. They can be mitigated, however, by any amount of preparedness. I have multiple heat sources, multiple cooking sources, multiple light sources, power inverters, a generator, and a stockpile of food and water. I also have chainsaws and other tools, as well as a vehicle that can push through just about anything.

Having no power is uncomfortable at best, and life threatening at worst, but I have survived. And I'm able to assist those folks around me that need help.

I cannot sit back and always expect others to take care of me.

 

[bobski]

life is a gamble.
everyone tries to plan and avoid everything.
fine.
but something will get ya somehow someway.

("all things are but common to man.")