I’m a Dem here in Texas. Our wind turbines froze.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure what to think. My husband works 25 miles away so he packed up a weeks worth of food and clothes. Please do not make a joke of this. The GOP idiots have not kept up our infrastructure. We can handle 100 degrees but not zero. This is scary. I’m worried about power and I have four greyhounds here.

[Anonymous]

Yep. I've been watching people live video their homes from Texas.

One person's fishtank froze inside the house.

Another person was trying to keep their pipes from freezing and turned the water on overnight, not only did the pipes freeze but the water blocked and sprayed all over her floors and countertops - FREEZING a sheet of water on the floors, towels, and counters.

Another's entire apartment building flooded because the pipes burst to the fire extinguishers going to every unit.

It was below freezing last night too. People are chopping trees down for firewood. I've seen lines of 100s of people in front of gas stations to buy food because all the grocery stores are closed as well.

[Anonymous]

So sorry, OP. It sounds miserable.

Not sure how you can blame Republicans for not keeping up infrastructure. It sounds like a freak storm causing wind turbines to freeze.

Perhaps we need to move cautiously away from oil and gas until we have the technology for preventing such an event.

[Anonymous]

Yes, It’s bad. We have not lost power at my house. One toilet won’t work but the other two are. We have an ice storm tomorrow. I can take care of myself with my COVID extra 10 pounds but am worried about my greyhounds. One is almost 15, others are 10.5, 9 and our new wiggleworm at almost 4. They are so skinny. We do have dog coats and lots of food but...,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sorry, OP. It sounds miserable.

Not sure how you can blame Republicans for not keeping up infrastructure. It sounds like a freak storm causing wind turbines to freeze.

Perhaps we need to move cautiously away from oil and gas until we have the technology for preventing such an event. [/quot
Abbott is an idiot. He only cared about getting businesses here but not keeping up the infrastructure. My family has been here since the 1800’s and the Republicans in the last few decades have destroyed this state.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We still need oil to fuel our energy as my friends with all electric cars here are screwed. My husband just swapped out his older Rav 4 Hybrid for a new one. He can’t drive on the roads though as we do not have the machines to clear them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I've been watching people live video their homes from Texas.

One person's fishtank froze inside the house.

Another person was trying to keep their pipes from freezing and turned the water on overnight, not only did the pipes freeze but the water blocked and sprayed all over her floors and countertops - FREEZING a sheet of water on the floors, towels, and counters.

Another's entire apartment building flooded because the pipes burst to the fire extinguishers going to every unit.

It was below freezing last night too. People are chopping trees down for firewood. I've seen lines of 100s of people in front of gas stations to buy food because all the grocery stores are closed as well.

And before anyone says that all couldn't be happening, here are the videos:

Everything closed:
https://www.tiktok.com/@neuro713/video/6929487304239205638

Frozen fishtank:
https://www.tiktok.com/@ray.k13/video/6929543248109178118

Homeless tent in living room:
https://www.tiktok.com/@servicedog_stryker/video/6929599702543502597

Crowne plaza Dallas completed flooded from broken pipes:
https://www.tiktok.com/@alexisalvarez5605/video/6929448765958933765

[Anonymous]

The wind turbines froze, but so did everything else. Thermal plants actually, at least as of yesterday morning, accounted for more of the missing demand than wind. It's not a renewable issue but an overall infrastructure issue.

[Anonymous]

The bigger issue than the wind turbines freezing is that Texas has underinvested in its energy infrastructure and doesn't have cross-border connections to draw energy from neighboring states and alternative sources. This was done purposefully, and experts have been warning about this kind of event in Texas for years.

This is fully a political issue that is manifesting because of law taxes and non-action relation to climate change.

I am sorry it is happening, but it was a fully avoidable event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue than the wind turbines freezing is that Texas has underinvested in its energy infrastructure and doesn't have cross-border connections to draw energy from neighboring states and alternative sources. This was done purposefully, and experts have been warning about this kind of event in Texas for years.

This is fully a political issue that is manifesting because of law taxes and non-action relation to climate change.

I am sorry it is happening, but it was a fully avoidable event.

I’m the OP and this is true. My friends and I are sitting with no lights, TV, etc, just phones trying to keep power on. We don’t have wood stoves etc.. This was not my choice. FU Abbott.

[Anonymous]

Oh, just saw where areas here in North Texas need to boil their water. Um, if you have no power, how do you do that🤷‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, just saw where areas here in North Texas need to boil their water. Um, if you have no power, how do you do that🤷‍♀️

If you've got gas or generator or camp stove. When the water plant loses power our introduces the possibility of bacteria entering the water supply, so boil orders are required. It sucks to hear if you can't do it, but you could get sick.

[Anonymous]

It’s not the wind turbines. Those are already known to produce less in the winter months, so they already plan to get less power from those sources.
The freezing weather is causing cascading failures at other power plants - coal, natural gas, nuclear - where they have frozen piping. For example, nuclear plants require lots of water to cool the nuclear cores. If the pipes at the nuclear plants are frozen, they need to shut down.

The biggest culprit is that Texas is not connected to other states’ energy systems.

Read this, it’s a great explanation: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-powe...-grid-crumples-under-the-cold/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sorry, OP. It sounds miserable.

Not sure how you can blame Republicans for not keeping up infrastructure. It sounds like a freak storm causing wind turbines to freeze.

Perhaps we need to move cautiously away from oil and gas until we have the technology for preventing such an event.

Apparently you can heat wind turbines (they do in MN) but that limits the amount you can use because it overloads the power grid in super cold weather. Yes, cautious is the word here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue than the wind turbines freezing is that Texas has underinvested in its energy infrastructure and doesn't have cross-border connections to draw energy from neighboring states and alternative sources. This was done purposefully, and experts have been warning about this kind of event in Texas for years.

This is fully a political issue that is manifesting because of law taxes and non-action relation to climate change.

I am sorry it is happening, but it was a fully avoidable event.

I’m the OP and this is true. My friends and I are sitting with no lights, TV, etc, just phones trying to keep power on. We don’t have wood stoves etc.. This was not my choice. FU Abbott.

Aren’t the blackouts rolling and deliberate in a lot of areas? The energy company that is responsible is based in Austin and run by two Dems