Bellyflop in TX

[JDub]

Wow... Just... Wow... Looks like the Vandweller crowd is going to have the last laugh in this case but my heart goes out to folks caught in this. How are they ever going to be able to afford it -you know the power companies aren't going to eat this. Although I DO wonder how someone can run up over 600 bucks a month in electricity - on a normal basis - I keep my home at 62 degrees and turn on my gas logs once in a while to take off a chill and my total electricity bill is always shy of 100 bucks in the coldest part of the winter. He's gotta be doing something else - mining BTC, non stop gaming or growing...

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/outages-morph-outrage-texans-slapped-mind-blowing-power-bills

 

[mpruet]

An estimate I've heard for the damage done by frozen pipes is $45-50 BILLION...wow.

That's in major hurricane territory dollar-wise.

Well, since most of the frozen pipes are still frozen, no one knows just how many homes will be affected.  One of my pipes froze and once it thawed, I had no leak.

Be aware that 10 years ago we had another one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ frozen spells. In fact we had that Super Bowl in DFW when it happened. And of course once it was over everyone forgot about it and then last week we got another ‘once in a lifetime’ winter spells. I guess that means that in Texas folks only live about 10 years... ;-)

 

[JDub]

It also just occurred to me folks, if you're in Texas, with all of the broken water mains and boil orders which will be getting a lot worse before it gets better. You might want to beat the rush and go out and stock up on water...

 

[mpruet]

Too late...

 

[JDub]

Story of my life...

 

[bullfrog]

A Birkey might be a good investment!

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

A Birkey will freeze too.  And I don't know what that would do to the filters.  They would probably crack.  Still, probably a good investment for when it warms up and the water supply is iffy.

 

[bullfrog]

It won’t freeze if you are hugging it holding onto it for dear life to keep it from getting stolen! Lol !!! Hiding in your tiny tent wrapped up in a sleeping pod with you eating your chocolate and nuts. Setting on heated rocks from the fire ring that held the fire you used outside to melt the snow to get the water which are now keeping everything warm inside the tent. Minimalism is at it’s best in unexpected emergencies. I will agree not much furniture is wood anymore so you may have to source fuel for the fire. It would be better than waiting days or drinking from an unknown source.

 

[bullfrog]

Just a side note you don’t have to filter water to flush the toilet.

 

[user 423]

If you're in a home with no heat, you turn off the water at the street, then drain down the water lines so they won't freeze...... common sense.

Homeowners should know where the shutoff valve is but since it rarely gets that cold down there in TX, many wouldn't have a reason to ever mess with it.

Also, I'm guessing there will be a lot of people affected who are residents of apartment buildings and they wouldn't have had access to a shutoff valve anyway. If the maintenance person lives offsite or is on vacation in Cancun or something, the water didn't get turned off.

 

[crofter]

Wow... Just... Wow...

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/outages-morph-outrage-texans-slapped-mind-blowing-power-bills

Too bad the discussion thread was not about the article. Quickly derailed into the mire.
-crofter

 

[JDub]

Too bad the discussion thread was not about the article. Quickly derailed into the mire.
-crofter

Well, in my defense, this thread was about preparedness and I was referring to the fact that Vandwellers are going to come out better than the sheeple because, as a demographic, they are much better prepared already.

Cheers!

 

[crofter]

@jdub
Not criticizing the article, that was truly astounding to read. 

I do think people and insurance companies will find a way to get their money back from the gouging power companies. It would be cheaper to run your house off a generator than pay those prices.
-crofter

 

[mpruet]

The past 12 months have been a royal pain ** *** ***!!!

My sticks and bricks is in north Texas, not too far from Dallas Ft. Worth airport. I had been in Wisconsin taking care of grand kids with my wife and we needed to get back home for our second Covid vaccination. So we started our drive back home on Saturday at midnight. By 2:00 am we ran into snow and couldn’t drive any faster than 30 MPH. By the time we reached Des Moines, we got ahead of the snow and arrived at home about 6:00 pm Sunday. By the next afternoon the temperature started dropping and on Tuesday morning we were in the blackout rotations. On Thursday the rotating blackouts ceased and it has been warming up ever since.

I’m guessing that folks living in the country didn’t have as much of an issue because most of them have propane tanks for heat. There were many times that I wish I was in my RV so I could head away from the storm, but it came from the west, so I probably couldn’t avoid it. The big issue is that you can’t get propane right now because just about everything has shut down. So I would have probably long run out of propane by now.

What a pain!!!

But it’s currently in the low 40s so the snow has mostly melted... ;-)

 

[JDub]

@jdub
Not criticizing the article, that was truly astounding to read. 

I do think people and insurance companies will find a way to get their money back from the gouging power companies. It would be cheaper to run your house off a generator than pay those prices.
-crofter

Honestly, it would be the proverbial "Cold Day in Hades" before I would I would pay those prices. I would FREEZE to make a (highly useless, self defeating, and completely ignored) statement to that effect. Oh! Wait... I'd actually start the generator... My bad...

 

[bullfrog]

mpruet have you checked your electric costs lately?

 

[mpruet]

mpruet have you checked your electric costs lately?

So far normal...

 

[bullfrog]

Good news! Best wishes! Check your outside faucets.

 

[MrAlvinDude]

One experts look into the details of why there is a current energy crisis in Texas - caused by unusual temperatures. 
And this despite the fact, that a somewhat similar situation happened somewhat recently, in 2011.

To me, an interesting question, to any calamity is: What might we learn from the event/instance?

 

[SLB_SA]

Texas households face massive electricity bills, some as high as $17K, after winter storm