Objectively intelligent.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Hey RT, hope you guys are doing o.k. down there. My in-laws are in Houston and they have been without power, heat, and essentially without cell service for two days. They had to flee their house this morning because they ran out of things to burn (they had started burning old furniture from the basement, and a neighbor brought them some wood after cutting down a tree across the street but it was too green and frozen to burn). They were going to go to the office, but also no power or heat there, so they went to a coworker of my F-I-L, who has no power but somehow managed to get a generator and space heaters and is trying to get the inside temp of his house above 32 degrees. They would flee the city, but apparently the highways are closed and the other roads are dangerous as hell, with more snow and ice moving in. It sounds really grim.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Hey RT, hope you guys are doing o.k. down there. My in-laws are in Houston and they have been without power, heat, and essentially without cell service for two days. They had to flee their house this morning because they ran out of things to burn (they had started burning old furniture from the basement, and a neighbor brought them some wood after cutting down a tree across the street but it was too green and frozen to burn). They were going to go to the office, but also no power or heat there, so they went to a coworker of my F-I-L, who has no power but somehow managed to get a generator and space heaters and is trying to get the inside temp of his house above 32 degrees. They would flee the city, but apparently the highways are closed and the other roads are dangerous as hell, with more snow and ice moving in. It sounds really grim.

Just got off a conference call with two attorneys in Austin. Power is basically out unless you happen to live adjacent the Hospital district. The power isn't just downed lines but also transportation problems due to the icing. One was in the district and fine. The other was a single guy who had not thought of stocking food. He also lived outside the area with power. He told us about last night: he wandered among lots of others from restaurant to restaurant hoping to find one open. Eventually he found one, and spent three hours waiting for a sandwich. Post apocalypse sounding.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Hey RT, hope you guys are doing o.k. down there. My in-laws are in Houston and they have been without power, heat, and essentially without cell service for two days. They had to flee their house this morning because they ran out of things to burn (they had started burning old furniture from the basement, and a neighbor brought them some wood after cutting down a tree across the street but it was too green and frozen to burn). They were going to go to the office, but also no power or heat there, so they went to a coworker of my F-I-L, who has no power but somehow managed to get a generator and space heaters and is trying to get the inside temp of his house above 32 degrees. They would flee the city, but apparently the highways are closed and the other roads are dangerous as hell, with more snow and ice moving in. It sounds really grim.

I'm following RT's travails on FB, it sounds like they are managing with some difficulty.

I'm very glad my sister is in El Paso, where there is still power.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Hey RT, hope you guys are doing o.k. down there. My in-laws are in Houston and they have been without power, heat, and essentially without cell service for two days. They had to flee their house this morning because they ran out of things to burn (they had started burning old furniture from the basement, and a neighbor brought them some wood after cutting down a tree across the street but it was too green and frozen to burn). They were going to go to the office, but also no power or heat there, so they went to a coworker of my F-I-L, who has no power but somehow managed to get a generator and space heaters and is trying to get the inside temp of his house above 32 degrees. They would flee the city, but apparently the highways are closed and the other roads are dangerous as hell, with more snow and ice moving in. It sounds really grim.

Thank you!

It's pretty awful. Our water went out two days ago, power went out last night. Fortunately, we have a place to go that still has both, so the dogs are learning to live with a cat for the time being. It's not going to get better for at least three to five days, because an ice storm is sweeping across the state right now. We're above freezing today, which should help, but a lot of people are going to die. A lot of property will be damaged (the pipes started bursting this morning), and a lot of already frazzled people are going to be even more disrupted. We don't know how to deal with this. A lot of people don't have winter gear. A lot of people don't know not to use their cars or generators or grills for warmth. Two days ago, there were over 300 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning. I imagine it's more now. People don't know how to drive in this either, so there've been tons of wrecks, some deadly.

My parents are on a ranch halfway between here and Austin. They fortunately never lost power, but they lost water starting Sunday. Got some back today.

This is a major catastrophe, and it's of our own making.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

Thank you!

It's pretty awful. Our water went out two days ago, power went out last night. Fortunately, we have a place to go that still has both, so the dogs are learning to live with a cat for the time being. It's not going to get better for at least three to five days, because an ice storm is sweeping across the state right now. We're above freezing today, which should help, but a lot of people are going to die. A lot of property will be damaged (the pipes started bursting this morning), and a lot of already frazzled people are going to be even more disrupted. We don't know how to deal with this. A lot of people don't have winter gear. A lot of people don't know not to use their cars or generators or grills for warmth. Two days ago, there were over 300 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning. I imagine it's more now. People don't know how to drive in this either, so there've been tons of wrecks, some deadly.

My parents are on a ranch halfway between here and Austin. They fortunately never lost power, but they lost water starting Sunday. Got some back today.

This is a major catastrophe, and it's of our own making.

It sounds just terrible, and I have a sinking feeling that when the power is restored and they start going from house to house, they are going to find a lot of elderly and infirm who had no power, no heat, no cell service, no water, and died in their homes. It seems like just a complete infrastucture collapse. Good to hear you and your parents are somehow managing through it all. Hoping for a warm spell soon and that they somehow find ways to get everybody down there some power and water.