Wow! We had the snowstorm and frigid cold of the century in Texas this past week! It was unheard of to get 8-10" in Blanco like we did. San Antonio had almost 4", New Braunfels a few inches as well. Crazy! But the brutal cold was horrible and tragic for so many.
The storm started to make its way into Texas on Saturday, 2/12. By Monday, 2/15, the worst was upon us.
Jose and I were at a dude ranch (as mentioned in an earlier post) and decided to leave 1 day early on Saturday so we could get home on Sunday, Valentine's Day. The roads were bad and we drove from Ft Stockton all the way home in 4-wheel drive (about 6 hrs), stopping at the local grocery store, HEB, on the way. We were sad to leave the ranch a day early but we are so grateful that we did. We would not have made it home on Monday and probably would have been stuck somewhere until Friday.
On Monday, we woke up up to all of the snow and frigid temperatures. Places in the north, like Michigan, North Dakota, Maine, and other states expect this kind of weather and are prepared. They have plenty wood already stacked in their basements and wood-burning fireplaces to burn it, they have generators and all appropriate snow equipment for driving and shoveling, etc. The middle to southern part of Texas does not. There are trucks that can lay brine but not as far south as they were needed. There just weren't enough trucks and brine to reach all the roads. Most of the focus was on the bridges. The main road outside of our community, US Hwy 281, was closed for about a 15 mile stretch for 2-3 days.
We lost water on Monday and melted snow on our propane gas burners in the kitchen until Tuesday morning when we thought to use my hair dryer on the main water valve. We had water within 60 seconds and never lost it after that. Our electricity coop, PEC, did a great job for the area. We had rolling outages through Thursday morning (2-3 hr on, 2-3hrs off or so). So many lost power for 3-4 days straight. That included our son, daughter-in-law and 3 youngest grandsons. They stayed in the house the 1st day because they had some wood for the fireplace. But they went to a friend's house in another part of San Antonio (who never lost power) and stayed there.
I have so much for which to be grateful - God's glory with the beautiful snow, water, only rolling outages and a coop who did an amazing job, plenty of food, propane gas burners in our kitchen, amazing neighbors and friends (so many reached out to help each other and we were happy to help some friends get their water operational again), a return to milder temperatures, and my amazing husband. I am also so grateful that our kids and grands were okay throughout, either with power/water the entire time or with a place to go.
Prayers continue for those who are still affected by this storm - those without power and/or water, with damage to their homes, who need food, and those who were injured or who lost loved ones.
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