Winter Storms Reveal Strength of Community

Texans are ill-prepared for snow and sleet, but help each other

Recently Texas has suffered from a winter storm that lasted for several days and caused a lot of damage to trees and to some peoples’ houses.

The storm started late Monday night and by Tuesday morning the roads were covered with ice. Meanwhile, there was ongoing sleet, snow, freezing rain, and high speed wind gusts.

Texas is ill-prepared to deal with this type of weather and Southerners in general don’t know how to drive under these conditions. The overpasses become covered in sheets of ice, few people have 4-wheel drives, and low visibility and high-speed winds are an issue. Most people choose to stay home.

Schools and businesses were closed and my hospital rescheduled all non-urgent treatments for two days.

There were also power outages as falling tree branches and other elements of the storm caused damage to power lines.

These affected me personally because my radiation treatments were rescheduled due to the weather.

Additionally, on the third day my power went out around 11:30A.M.

With it being freezing cold outside, I was worried about staying warm, so I got a fire going, but I forgot to open the flue first, and my house started to fill with smoke. Then the smoke detectors went off. Since I currently can’t climb a ladder I was in trouble.

Fortunately, my pastor’s husband came by and he climbed ladders for me to turn off the alarms. He also noticed that my vehicle was under a tree with icy limbs that might break and fall, causing damage. Since I can’t drive right now, he moved it for me.

When the power came back on a few hours later, my neighbor came over and climbed ladders to reset my smoke detectors for me.

Meanwhile, several of us were on social media or calling or texting each other, making sure everyone was OK. Church members and friends were offering warm shelter for those whose power was out. Several people who still had power offered freezer space to those whose power had gone out so that they wouldn’t lose their food — once the power came back on the frozen goods would be returned.

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