After being without power for something like 66 hours, I’ve already taken away some lessons from this nasty storm. Sure, we had a couple short periods with power – 45 minutes once a morning for two days doesn’t do much for you other than being able to brew a pot of coffee, partially charge phones, and fix something hot to eat once in the whole day. As tired and ticked as I am, I do recognize that this is a once in a hundred-year freak storm which the utility companies probably can't ever completely prepare for. The last time I can recall a comparable winter in Texas was in sixth grade at my grandparents’ house down in Pharr, TX. That had to be 1981 or 1982, and there was no electricity, phone service, or running water for several days. But I don’t think that the temps dropped into negative territory, and back then, nobody expected to have constant access to communications – you just tuned in the TV to the news, adjusted the rabbit ears a bit, and waited it out.

Lewisville keeps adding massive multifamily and “high density” developments, and other cities in Texas keep doing the same as well. I’d be willing to bet a silver dollar that the cities are NOT building infrastructure (i.e. adding electrical and gas capacity) to keep pace with this growth. Which means that we can expect to have power outages again when there's more severe weather. Same goes for fresh water. Right now we’re on a “boil water” advisory, and at least we have pressure to bathe with. The city has warned us that the water may get shut off completely, and Atmos may not be able to keep the gas flowing. We’re also painfully aware that the power could go out for another 3 day outage.

My lessons are to be the ant more than the grasshopper. I’ve been ant-like (Adam and the Ants?) in that I chose to buy a home that has a fireplace and I had a big stockpile of firewood available. To be fair, my firewood supply has gotten sparse and I was looking at my neighbors fence as a possible source of firewood (howdy neighbor!). Have a gas grill with spare propane for cooking, although cooking with that thing in the garage was not exactly optimal, but I've seen the reports of CO poisoning deaths and will not bring it into the house. We keep spare supplies of bottled water adequate for about a week. We had enough flashlights for everyone to have one, plus one for the house (and spare batteries, always keep spare batteries!) I also keep things like hot water bottles, which were invaluable. Boil water on the grill, fill bottles – one of those bottles kept wrapped in the blanket with you can help with warmth for hours. We keep a storage tote with dry foods for emergency use (pilot crackers, peanut butter, powdered milk, etc), and have the pantry stocked with dry basics like rice & beans. Might be boring food, but it can be prepared easily and will sustain the family in a crisis like this one. Our home is laid out in such a way that we were able to close the main living room off from most of the house – the fireplace heat went a lot further that way. Likewise, we also keep a spare bag of dry cat food at all times so our beloved pets don’t go hungry.

But in some ways I’ve been utterly unprepared. When things settle down, I’m installing a backup generator. Not a little portable generator, but a full-blown backup that can keep heat or AC running no matter what, as well as keeping our food refrigerated or frozen. The fireplace kept us from freezing, but I was on 24/7 ‘firewatch’ having to bring firewood in, putting more into the fire every hour or so throughout the night, and scooping out ashes and embers regularly. You don’t get much sleep that way. We need a weather radio so that we can get important news even without internet or cell phone service. Also need to get some form of backup communication set up so we can check in with certain family members. The old single-pane windows on the house are being replaced and we’re installing blinds or shutters or something that will provide another layer of insulation. I’m going to have our home prepared to last for up to a week without electricity, gas, or water service, cause the last four days have sucked bilge water. Also going to have a small portable gas generator that we can throw in the back of the truck if we have to bug out and live in a tent somewhere for a week. Plus will have the tent and stuff to take with us. We definitely need a few more of the high-powered flashlights so that we can see important things after sunset, like watching the food on the grill so it's cooked right. Another thing that we weren't prepared for was how much a 7 year old can tear through emergency supplies because she's bored. Yes, we have non-electronic things to occupy her time - board games, books, puzzles, and so on. But she expects to change her outfits multiple times and day and wants to open everything she sees, which doesn't help when she's opening perishable food, taking a few bites and throwing away the rest. Small children generally leave a path of chaos in their wake - everything that she picks up gets tossed randomly on the floor. Not so cool when we're all crammed into the living room. We also had to search the house for all our flashlights because she was treating them as toys. Yes, she's seven and doesn't really get the idea of "emergency" yet, but we've been drumming it into her head and will be better prepared to keep her occupied the next time something like this happens.

Despite having no power, we were safe enough. The living room temp stayed at 55-62 degrees with the fireplace, and we had plenty of food and water, and were able to have hot drinks by boiling water with the propane grill. But it was still cold, and we were lucky that other parts of the house didn't freeze up. I know of folks who had to leave their homes to stay at a hotel, and their homes are a wreck from burst pipes.

Just call me "Ant-Man" from now on. Never getting caught unprepared again.

Buy a home that's in the same grid as a hospital. Always have power.

I feel ya on the fireplace, up to last night I probably only got about 4 hrs. total sleep from sat night till last night when I finally felt safe enough to krap out for 4 hrs at once. rolling blackout actually helped a little as the lights coming on would wake me from a nap of maybe 15 mins.

few hints from my living in colorado, fireplace insert is the best of all worlds. they can have fan forced heat and are super safe, seal off the fireplace so no hot or cold air gets out the flu and you can stoke them up at bedtime then restoke in the morning when you wake up with warmth still there. you will use about 1/3 less wood or maybe even half as much with an insert, and don't have to add near as often. look for one with natural convection instead of electric fans, they work great, heated 2,800sf in colorado with one for yrs. but did have a regular wood stove in the bedroom as backup.

https://www.lopistoves.com/products/wood/wood-fireplace-inserts/




this is the type I had





wrap hot water heater in a specific blanket made for it, I put a pr. on mine but I was at 8500' in the mts. so maybe overkill here.
get a buried propane tank for a generator (this I did not have in colorado as our lines were all buried and we rarely lost power for more than a couple hrs.) this keeps the propane in a safe spot, keeps it from freezing up and a truck can come fill it vs. having to go find some at the grocery store.
I will think of others and add as they come to me, pretty dam tired still from the lack of sleep and hot food.

This experience definitely put things in perspective for ANY natural disaster and being prepared. Although I may not invest in a heavy duty generator, I am thinking of buying a small one just to keep a few things going. Water bag for the tub and a few cases of water in the garage or attic. We too had enough supplies for our family of 8, but if this would have lasted longer than a week, we would be hurting.

Once this is all over, I plan to make a "dooms day" list and start stocking up.

That’s what we did. I’m halfway between a large hospital and a usaf air field.

My faith and love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ get's stronger during times like these. Jesus has always been with me no matter how hard life can get. Jesus has taken care of me and has giving me the knowledge to act on during difficult times. Helping your fellow neighbor or a person in need during difficult times is a "PRICELESS BLESSING". Also never under estimate the "POWER OF PRAYER" ! As I always say with confidence. "The Lord Jesus Christ has control".

Reading through this...I can honestly say, I'm an ant man. My wife and kids call me a boy scout. I'm always preparing for the worst. And this storm was one event they were very happy I'm this way.

We had a generator, albeit small 3200 series Firman, but it worked. I'm also looking at a whole home unit now as no matter the condition(s). I don't want anyone in my family to go through this alone.

Nine years ago, my neighborhood suffered a power outage due to an ice storm. Our area was without power for 13 days.

Here a backup power or heating source is the norm. Propane is the norm to backup the heat pump.

The house I am buying does not have propane...but it does have a beautiful Vermont Castings wood stove to chase out the cold.

Tickets to my son's house in Florida. That will be my preparation next time.

I just read an article about this. We are near a hospital and a nursing home. Lots of doctors offices (all types) close by as well. Very interesting tidbit. We did lose power for 13 hours Monday, but since have had it working. Knock on wood or something. Also, I am surrounded by liquor stores. Priority #1.

hospitals and most nursing homes etc. will have gensets to run the full facility during outages, worked on a few over the yrs.
a usaf base I can promise you has backup power.

the grid is not laid out to keep any particular facility open, it is for efficiency and cost effectiveness.

cya is your best option in prepping for this kind of stuff and this one being a once in a lifetime has opened a lot of eyes to just how bad things can get in a hurry.

While being on the same branch of the grid can help, it's not much guarantee. My wife had been told her business is on such a branch. You can even see the hospital, so it's not very far. That has definitely helped when the issue was distribution related (think wires down). It was no help this time. Power off 100% of the time with no popular termed "rolling blackout" for 3 days. The hospital was on their generators for that time.

As for some saying this was just an inconvenience, tell that to the families of those who literally froze to death in their homes. My wife has family in Waco where one is the pastor of a church. She heard from him this morning, and learned that two elderly members of their congregation died in such a way.

As for the good debrief by the OP, there are good points to ponder there, but one is not winter storm related. An uncontrolled 7 year old doing as they wish is in need of personal restrain training. I have grandkids, and even the 4 year old will bring a snack to show an adult and ask for permission to have it. He doesn't open it if told no.

Its still not over for us. Closing in on 60hrs with no power.

Glad y’all made it through, Zeek. Good recap. I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking of things we could’ve done better.

Hop, this hasn't been "once in a lifetime" for me. This is the SECOND time in a period of less than 15 years for me - on the north side of Houston, no less. In February of the earlier 2000s, Texas had a power interruption due to generators going offline as well. People forget easily. That was when I bought a bigger generator. We were lucky that one was shorter, so power returned sooner. But into the 3rd day gets long when the lows are 17.