How To Survive a Blackout - Texas Blackout 2021

A picture of candles during a blackout.

Life is full of experiences, mostly good, some bad; however, the best part of life is overcoming the obstacles stronger and smarter. February was one of those bad moments for me personally and millions of my fellow Texans as we all suffered without electricity in the bitter cold. Temperatures reached as low as -1 in my area of Bell County, Texas. My rental was without electricity for 6 days (about 153 hours). The electricity finally turned back on the 7th day at 1:41 PM. They had a crew of 6 or so trying to figure it out outside our duplex. As the lights came back on, the emotions that flowed through my body were just as exciting as hitting nitrous in a speeding race car down the road. Hell yes, no more cold showers, crappy sandwiches, dripping water faucets, worrying about if my family is warm in all our blankets, and worrying about our pipes from bursting.

What Went Wrong?

Relying on the electric grid is what went wrong! Being without power for almost 7 days made me realize how much we depend on the electric company. It’s making me think about how can I power my equipment when the power company fails the next time? How can I ensure I can provide heat for my family?

The electric power grid in Texas seems to have a weakness, temperatures below 20 degrees. What happened in February 2021 was a repeat of the Texas blackout of 2011.

“More than 4.5 million customers in Texas were without power during the peak of outages in the state this week, as freezing temperatures hit parts of the country.”

ERCOT back in 2011 told Texans to “conserve energy so as not to overburden the system.”

As if the customer is the issue here. What we witnessed today in February 2021 and 2011 seems to be an ERCOT issue with their equipment. Telling the customer to “conserve” usage because they cannot provide reliable electricity is wrong. Get it together, ERCOT. It has been 10 years since the last blackout. If you cannot offer reliable service, then what good are you?

“The system broke down this week when 185 generating units, including gas and coal-fired power plants, tripped offline during the brunt of the storm. Wind turbines in West Texas froze as well, and a nuclear unit near the Gulf of Mexico went down for more than 48 hours. Another problem emerged: Some power plants lost their pipeline supply of gas and couldn’t generate electricity even if they wanted to capture the high prices. Such mechanical problems might have been avoided if operators had chosen to equip their plants like those that operate in traditional cold-weather states.

When Did My Power Go Out?

It started Monday at 3:00 AM. The night before, I had no idea how just like that, my life would change. Not just for me but also for my family and kids.

Cancellations Galore

Schools shut down.
Government offices.
USPS mailbox wasn’t accessible due to being covered in ice. No mail service.
Doctors couldn’t provide service.
No jobs to go to without electricity.
Loss of job pay.
No productivity.
Food shortages everywhere. Stores were empty by the time I was able to drive, 7 days later.

*A picture of empty shelves at the store.*

What Went Right

I already had a propane stove. I was able to cook food and boil water. We also had several instant lunch chicken flavored soup stocked up, bottled waters, LED flashlight lanterns, bread, and peanut butter. We barely had enough to survive. We attempted to cook the eggs we had, not knowing if they were safe to eat. Luckily, they were still good.

*A picture of a gas propane cooking eggs outside in the snow..*

*A picture of inside our home during the Texas blackout without electricity. Showing a battery flashlight with limited snacks available at the time.*

We charged our phones and iPads in the car. I had no way to charge MacBook Pro. The vehicle also provided much-needed heat at different parts of the day. It wasn’t until Saturday that the snow and ice cleared up to where we could drive. Before that, we were stranded at the house. Too dangerous to drive.

Saturday was the best as I ordered a double steak hamburger at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. I was finally able to have a real meal with protein.

What went wrong?

Since the power went out at 3:00 AM Monday by the time we woke up for the day, our food was spoiled. It’s incredible how fast heat gets inside our refrigerator when turned off. Had to be over $200 worth of food in our refrigerator, freezer, and backup freezer.

Having a propane stove is invaluable, especially in times like this. However, most of our food was already thawed out, so the propane stove became almost useless.

We tried to salvage what we could by putting food outside. The temperatures were in the single digits then. We should have acted sooner as soon as the power went out and placed everything outside, but of course, this was one of those, could of, would of, should of things you think about after the fact. At that given moment, there was no way of knowing what would happen to us for the next several days.

What I Wish I Had – How To Be Better Prepared Next Time?

During these 7 days of bitter cold and suffering, I wish I had a propane heater. That would have made our life so much easier, especially after having to take dreadfully cold showers. The cold temperatures of -1 and constantly 20 to 30 degree days were rough. We had blankets covering the windows, doors, and hallways. Wore jackets all day and bundled up.

In addition to having a propane heater is a generator. A generator would be excellent to power my gear to at least charge my laptop, get on the internet, and whatnot.

That would have made this whole blackout less of a burden.

Conclusion

The Texas electric grid seems to be vulnerable and must get fixed. What I experienced this past week was something I hope no one has to go through, as it was horrible. My heart and prayers go out to my fellow Texans who also suffered through this. We couldn’t have made it without our neighbors who came together. This was definitely a learning experience I hope we can all learn from and never repeat again.