Texas Disaster Day 2

[Pommer]

Arctic cold in the central U.S. has left almost 5 million customers without electricity and has wreaked havoc on the gas and power markets. Gas production has tumbled to a three-year low as the frigid weather triggers blackouts and causes liquids to freeze inside pipes, forcing wells and processing plants to shut.

 

[essentialsaltes]

ERCOT to change Texas energy prices to meet high demand amid winter storm
A Public Utility Commission order stated that ERCOT should correct any past prices to reflect the current shortage of energy.

As a result, the Public Utility Commission of Texas held an emergency meeting on Monday where officials introduced an order that would adjust energy prices. The order said in part, "Energy prices should reflect scarcity of the supply. If customer load is being shed, scarcity is at its maximum, and the market price for the energy needed to serve that load should also be at its highest."

The order also stated that The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the organization that monitors Texas' power grid, should correct any past prices to reflect the current shortage of energy. However, there are caps in place in the order to make sure consumers are protected from skyrocketing prices.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Texas hit with massive power outages as winter freeze leaves more than 4 million in the dark
Major cities in Texas impacted by outages

 

[Nithavela]

We had about the same temperatures in germany for the last week, with everything thawing up now. You guys need to really increase your resilience against this type of weather, which will become a lot more common now climate change has weakened the jetstream. No real power outages or anything major.

 

[essentialsaltes]

You guys need to really increase your resilience against this type of weather

One of the problems here is that Texas has its own electric grid, and doesn't join with the major Western and Eastern Interconnections, which supplies that resilience to the many places that get bad weather in the US. President Biden has declared a federal emergency for the state and, in sharp contrast from the previous administration, has not complained that the Texans didn't shovel enough snow.

I'll try to curb my bitterness and past grievances. I feel for the people of Texas facing a huge disaster affecting millions. I'm very glad Biden has quickly agreed to the governor's request for emergency funds.

 

[essentialsaltes]

YAY Capitalism!

With a side order of Ebeneezer Scrooge and bootstraps.

Texas mayor tells residents to fend for themselves during power outage: ‘Only the strong will survive’

“Folks God has given us the tools to support ourselves in times like this,” he wrote, claiming that those who expected the city to come to their aid were “sadly a product of a socialist government.”

Residents turned to a community Facebook group to ask whether the small town planned to open warming shelters, while others wondered if firefighters could do their job without water. But when Colorado City’s mayor chimed in, it was to deliver a less-than-comforting message: The local government had no responsibility to help out its citizens, and only the tough would survive.

“No one owes you [or] your family anything,” Tim Boyd wrote on Tuesday in a now-deleted Facebook post, according to KTXS and KTAB/KRBC. “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout!”

Boyd suggested that residents without electricity should simply “step up and come up with a game plan.” Those without running water could either deal with it, or “think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family.” He did not offer any further guidance, such as where safe drinking water or reliable electricity could be found.

“Only the strong will survive and the weak will [perish],” he wrote.

Later on Tuesday, Boyd announced his resignation and admitted that he could have “used better wording.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

Day 3

“We don’t have an end in sight” to power outage woes, Texas county judge says

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Lina Hidalgo, judge for Harris County, Texas, where Houston is located, warned residents to buckle up for the possibility of a few more days without power. Hidalgo also serves as the county's chief executive.

About 2.5 million people and 34 cities in Harris County do not have power, Hidalgo said on CNN's "New Day." Pipes are bursting, many residents do not have water and hospitals are reporting issues as well after a winter storm bringing ice and frigid temperatures gripped the state, she said.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I called Scrooge too soon. Rick Perry gets even closer.

Perry says Texans would rather suffer blackouts than join national power grid

Former Texas governor Rick Perry suggests that going days without power is a sacrifice Texans should be willing to make if it means keeping federal regulators out of the state’s power grid.

“Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business,” Perry is quoted as saying.

I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned--they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.

 

[rambot]

FYI....that mayor stepped down and his wife lost her job (that second bit seems unnecessary).

He BARELY apologized for it though he did take responsibility. He basically just say "i didn't choose my words quite right and obviously I wasn't referring to old people".

It's pretty stupid. Americans pay taxes for a REASON; and part of that reason is SUPPORTED infrastructure.

The whole "take care of your own".....folks are employed and doing their job. THAT'S them taking care of their own. Politicians and engineers have the job of making sure citizens gets what they need.

Imagine: Being a right wing politician whose citizens HATE paying taxes...then BLAMING those same citizens when you and yours did your job terribly.

 

[TLK Valentine]

This is what happens when public servants forget that they are, in fact, public servants.

 

[mala]

what's funny is that in the northeast it's actually colder than in texas and it was an alright day here.
i suppose when you live in a state with reasonable people and policies you don't have to worry so much about the power going down when it gets to be scarf season.

 

[Tinker Grey]

From my facebook feed:

 

[Nithavela]

From my facebook feed:

View attachment 295098

To that I say, get through this, and then prepare for the next event like this, because it's not "a century" away, but maybe 5-10 years if you're lucky.

 

[Tinker Grey]

To that I say, get through this, and then prepare for the next event like this, because it's not "a century" away, but maybe 5-10 years if you're lucky.

Oh yes, I agree. While climate change may make things warmer, on average, chaotic weather events are the new normal.

 

[trunks2k]

To that I say, get through this, and then prepare for the next event like this, because it's not "a century" away, but maybe 5-10 years if you're lucky.

This already happened to a less severe extent ten years ago. They did nothing to prevent it from happening again.

 

[Nithavela]

This already happened to a less severe extent ten years ago. They did nothing to prevent it from happening again.

Well, maybe twice is the charm.

They'll learn. Sooner or later they'll learn. The question is only how high the bodycount and infrastructure damage grows.

 

[Tinker Grey]

It truly SUCKS when people treat you the way a previous president treated people, we can all agree with that.

It would be nice if we could all just be supportive of our fellow countrymen when they experience hardship. But for some reason, under the previous president, it became OK to take cheap shots. I'd say that behaviour was very VERY rare before 2015 but became MUUUUCH more common recently.

I'm not actually upset or anything.

When my wife and I lived in Maryland, it was a common legend (true or not *shrug*) that Montgomery county (MD) had more snow plows than all of Virginia.

One cannot expect that drivers who grew up in TX can deal with this weather. One cannot expect that TX will invest in the same number of snow plows as Colorado.

To some extent, it's a calculation that legislators make. Sometimes it's a good one; other times, not.

As per a link I posted in this thread or the other one, 49 states have basic weatherizing patterns that TX chose not to do. If then, as Dallas County Judge, Clay Jenkins, said, they all have these standards, they must be about as basic as can be. (Think HI). And, TX decided to save pennies and here we are. SMH

 

[Elliewaves]

I hope the people of Texas get power back soon. They are fellow Americans and they deserve better than the leadership they have that let this happen. I hope they receive federal aid quickly and it's used to help all that are suffering right now. Federal aid is important in situations like this and it doesn't matter that their leadership failed them in this and did not learn from prior smaller instances for decades. People need help now.

 

[essentialsaltes]

LINK

A winter storm and lengthy cold snap have crippled power facilities in Texas and caused about 2.6 million outages as of late Wednesday afternoon, leaving residents in the cold and dark for several days.

The lack of power to about a quarter of the state has created a widespread emergency, with families huddling in homes or cars without heat, burst water pipes, failing water systems and gasoline shortages.

Texas officials pointed the blame at the power company and called for investigations. US Rep. Marc Veasey, a Democrat who represents parts of Fort Worth and Dallas, said he's learned from an industry executive that the power grid was just minutes from failing on Monday before state agency officials initiated emergency rolling outages.

"I want people to know that we were minutes away from the entire grid crashing," he told CNN's Ed Lavandera, criticizing ERCOT and Republican leaders for not better preparing for the freeze.

"If we had waited, and not done outages, not reduced demand to reflect what was going on, on the overall system, we could have drifted towards a blackout," [ERCOT spokesman] said. "People feel like what we're seeing feels like a blackout, but the blackout that can occur if you don't keep the supply and demand in balance could last months."

 

[essentialsaltes]

LINK

Power was down for about 500,000 Texas customers as of Thursday morning -- way down from the over 3 million outages a day earlier, according to Poweroutage.us.

But the winter storm and ongoing cold were still affecting the system's power generation, and rotating outages may be needed over the next couple of days, the company said.

The statement comes as freezing temperatures are forecast again for Thursday, extending an already excruciating period.

Angel Garcia, a nurse from Killeen, Texas, told CNN that she and her family are monitoring their 5-month old son, who was born prematurely and is running out of oxygen supply. The family has no heat in their home. They resorted to burning their toddler's toy blocks as firewood.

"A lot of people don't know the severity of what's going on. People are tearing down their fences to burn," Garcia said in tears.