Post A4MuoIv35SXg7vWN3w by Zephyranthes@spinster.xyz
(DIR) More posts by Zephyranthes@spinster.xyz
(DIR) Post #A4L9iZsiDceBzeEgPQ by jonimitchell@spinster.xyz
2021-02-16T15:56:42.278456Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I’ve been without power for around 30 hours (since 2am yesterday, and it’s almost 10 now), and every now and then I check Twitter for updates on the Texas outage situation. I am so tired of seeing tweets from smug out-of-state people who act like Texas is a backwards political monolith and we somehow brought this on ourselves. Hating Texas’ senators is not a get-out-of-compassion-free card.
(DIR) Post #A4L9iaIwe5dBJ0VdIW by Zephyranthes@spinster.xyz
2021-02-16T16:55:28.723137Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@jonimitchell my brother and SIL are in the same boat in TX. They warmed up in their car last night while heating up leftovers for themselves and some neighbors on a teeny camp stove in their apartment's parking lot... 🥶 I'm two hours north of them and we've not lost power yet thankfully, but there's supposed to be more freezing rain tonight.
(DIR) Post #A4L9iahPB9CGWrxAQK by jonimitchell@spinster.xyz
2021-02-16T18:48:01.211739Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@Zephyranthes It’s such an awful situation. I made it to a “warming station” on campus to charge my phone, and even though I’ve been here for two hours, I’m still cold. Right now it’s looking like I can eat either cold sandwiches from the cafeteria or cold canned soup until the power comes on again, and it seems like that won’t be anytime soon :/ I just want hot food right now lolI’m glad to hear you have power! I hope you’re staying warm!
(DIR) Post #A4L9ibBBOR141Dswq0 by IRLStreamer@poa.st
2021-02-16T18:49:40.039390Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jonimitchell @Zephyranthes don't worry, men will come fix it for you soon
(DIR) Post #A4MHAamvKphZkbnH1s by jonimitchell@spinster.xyz
2021-02-16T21:24:20.949656Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
My city has been put on a boil notice...so now we don’t have power *or* water. Luckily my roommate and I have a full thing of bottled water leftover from the boil notice we had exactly a week ago for different, non-weather-related reasons. I hate it here lol
(DIR) Post #A4MRawRaRNu5zC15RA by FeartnTired@spinster.xyz
2021-02-17T09:11:42.630363Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@jonimitchell @Zephyranthes Scot here. Pardon my asking but what on earth is going on!? I assumed that Texas winters weren't really very cold, as in no snow or hard freezes? Scotland can get very cold, but rarely serious snow or freezes at lower levels in the city. We've had some burst water mains in the city last week, but they were soon fixed or rerouted. Overhead power cables come down in rural areas when there are storms, but again, usually pretty soon fixed. And in the city the cables are underground.So what has happened to you? It sounds terrible. Everything in my house is electric! I can't imagine how vulnerable people are coping at all, let alone everyone else if it's a citywide/statewide issue?!
(DIR) Post #A4MuPr0zBOVidKdhqK by jonimitchell@spinster.xyz
2021-02-17T13:09:35.446048Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@FeartnTired @Zephyranthes It is terrible! You’re right about everything being electric—I didn’t realize how much I rely on electricity to do basic things. I’m very worried for the people stranded in the cold...we’re going to see lots of unnecessary deaths in the next few days. I’m not 100% sure what’s going on, but I think it’s a combination of climate change and mismanagement of resources. Texas’ infrastructure—our electrical grid, our roads, everything—were not built for weather like this, and it sounds like the organizations and politicians responsible for preparing for the storm failed, so now everything is awful. This weather is so much worse here because Texas isn’t built for it—we don’t have basic winter road supplies, some people don’t own winter clothes, some houses aren’t properly insulated, and pipes are breaking and flooding people’s homes. It sounds like the cables are still mostly in tact—the power is out because the state just doesn’t have enough generated energy to meet demand, so they cut off power from seemingly half the state on purpose. Some plants that usually generate energy for the grid are closed because their equipment has frozen. Luckily I was able to sleep somewhere warm on campus overnight, but my dorm room is approaching 56+ hours without power, and the temperature inside was around 40 degrees when I left. There’s no timeline for when power might be back.
(DIR) Post #A4MuoIv35SXg7vWN3w by Zephyranthes@spinster.xyz
2021-02-17T14:37:48.133682Z
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@jonimitchell @FeartnTired Yeah, as I understand, it's a demand issue. What really makes this so much worse is that way back when, Texas decided to not be on the federal power grid. Other states in this situation can bring in power generated out of state by the federal power grid, we can't.