We are on day 4 of what I am calling “Snowmeggedon” here in Texas. The entire state is and has been under a Winter Strom Warning.

We Texans just aren’t use to this nor are we prepared. Our power grid is experiencing outages and because of that our water treatment facilities also experienced power loss. As a result, the water pressure is really low and some people have lost water altogether. There is a boil water notice in effect, also. Natural gas is another issue but so far I’ve not heard of any outages. Many places are 100% electric and don’t even have fire places, so when the power goes they have no way to boil water and they can’t just turn on the oven to heat a small area of their home. With temperatures in the single digits this is a miserable experience!

There are over 200,000 people in the Austin area without power, most since early Monday morning.

Somehow my family home and our entire subdivision has been spared while homes and businesses around us have been without power for 2 days and most also don’t have water. Our water pressure has been low, but today it is higher, which is good news!

My husband and I walked to area gas stations to try and purchase eggs yesterday. We encountered mobs of people, most buying up water and whatever food items they could find. The grocery stores in our area were either closed or limiting entry to only a few people at at time with wait times exceeding an hour.

As we walked to the store, a van slide sideways on the slick roads and block traffic. He got stuck on black ice and couldn’t move. A Sherriff deputy just happened to drive by. He stopped and my husband and the deputy helped get the van moving. It was surprising how many people were on the roads!

When we got inside a convenience store it was so full you could barely move. Concerns over Corona virus went out the window, that is for sure! Another convenience store made people wait outside in a long line and another one locked its doors despite being open. Many of the gas pumps are closed because people have been buying up gas to keep their cars running so they can charge phones and get a reprieve from the cold. Some people are working remotely out of their cars!

My BIL and SIL’s family, who live about a mile from us, lost power and water over 24 hours ago. They arrived at our home yesterday afternoon and are still here. They heard this morning that their power has been restored but they are waiting to make sure it stays on. They still do not have water. We are happy they came because my BIL went grocery shopping the day before the winter storm hit, so they had many things we didn’t. We are low on eggs, milk, bread and fresh veggies and they brought over 3 dozen eggs, milk and other child-friendly foods we needed. Our house is very full right now – a total of 6 kids and 4 adults! And I just heard my husband and BIL invite their brother and his family over to stay if they can make it. They’ve been without power since Monday. Not sure how that would work but I think we can make room if we have to.

Early this morning we got sleet and rain which has made everything turn to frozen slush. The temps are close to 30 degrees but the trees are now bending under the weight of a second layer of ice. This does not bode well for those without power – or those who still have it!

Only about one or two days before the warmer weather is here. We’re hoping it is sooner rather than later.

Here are some pics to give you an idea of what it is like here in Central Texas. There are pics of the day the snow fell as well as pics from today when the roads are more slushy. The pic of the white truck is from the day of the snowfall. I helped him get unstuck.:

Just now my husband came in and told me he is going to drive to our business to check on it. As of this morning I cannot remotely connect to my work computer. It is likely power went out and is still out, but if it is on then my husband will reboot the server and do whatever is needed to allow us to work from home. He is also going to take his chainsaw and cut some firewood for people he knows who need it. We long ago ran out because we gave ours away to friends and neighbors. Knowing my husband, he will likely bring back people to stay at our house. lol I am okay with it as long as it is not some stranger he met on the street!

Two more days, maybe three. We can do this, Texas!