Texans, how you holding up?
 

Rolling blackouts in my area started around 3 in the morning.

They are giving us no more than 30 minutes of power in any given hour.

Current blackout is coming up on a full hour right now.

This sucks.

I have neighbors whose toilets are frozen solid.

How are the rest of you doing?

Frozen toilets? That just ain't right. Are the houses not insulated at all? I know it's crazy cold for Texas but to freeze a toilet is extreme.

Pretty hard to flush a block of ice. :(

The only frozen toilets I’ve heard of were at cabins in WI that were not properly winterized. If the heat is on in the house, it should not be happening(?)

7 hours wo electricity. 0 degrees outside. 41 degrees inside and falling. We’re doing just fine. Thanks for asking.

Damn! A frozen crapper? That's some serious cold!

To me, there's nothing worse than power outages in the winter.

So far, no power issues. Fingers crossed. Low of 15° this morning up to 20° now. Less than 1/2 inches of snow. Plenty of food. Bathtub full in case we loose water pressure. Some pump stations have shut down due to power loss.
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Basements in TX are not common.

Most homes are on a concrete slab and the plumbing runs through it.

Bathrooms tend to be on outside / exterior walls.

Toss in a few days of low double digit and single digit days without power for half the day and it all adds up to a shyte show.

Not in Texas but going on day 4 without power up here in Oregon. No water as I'm on a well. Shoulda bought that generator last week!

Our power company is warning of rolling blackouts as possible. So far so good, and I just checked the web site for OG&E (our power company) and there are just a few outrages right now. They are straining to keep up. The Natural Gas company is whining as well.

This is simple unprecedented cold and snow for a very long time. We are breaking records for lowest low and lowest highs. It was -6 this morning. I don't remember but a few times in 42 years of living here we were below zero.

We have natural gas heat and of course electricity runs the fan. We only have an gas fireplace to have any heat if the electricity goes out.

Just texted Ronnie in Fort Worth. He says it's 46 inside his crib. 6+ hours no juice.

That's harsh. A kerosene heater wouldn't help the pipes in that case but life inside might be a bit more tolerable. Good luck.

No question. I feel for you folks - this is a one hundred year flood type of stuff. When I saw the forecasts last week, the projected temps, it gave the weather geek in me a real concern.

This is serious business.

Best, folks.

I feel for you folks down there. Simple things like snow shovels and heat tape just aren't available. The blackouts just add to the misery. Hope you get through it without too much damage. Not much else to do at this point.

Eric, that sucks. This has been an interesting 4 days. Lost power for a few hours this morning, that sure does get you thinking in a hurry during an ice storm. Fortunately it looks like it's thawing, but that's bringing it's own set of problems!

Stay safe everyone! Watch for falling limbs, get your headlamps handy.

Obviously up where I am we're ready for this stuff. The only way I can remotely relate is when we get summers that are 90+ F and 90% humidity. Not the same as frozen toilets but we don't do summer like Texas does. September in San Antonio almost killed me.

Mental note: Move to Texas and become a travelling generator salesman.

Mental note #2: Drive over to my cousin's house and get my generator back that he's had for over a year

We are up to a balmy -1, 6-7” of snow on the ground and it’s slowly falling. Warnings of rolling blackouts but nothing yet, most of our heat here is natural gas. My office (large aerospace company) is closed today to preserve gas and electricity for residential and critical business use. I have my pellet stove cranked and could run it off of a 12V battery and inverter if necessary. Freaking sucks but it obviously could be way worse. Hope you guys make out ok, leave your faucets dripping and open up the cabinet doors to keep the plumbing as warm as possible.

It was -13 here last night, no rolling blackouts as we are prepared for the cold. If it got really bad I would go get my camper and run the generator and use it to power some portable heaters in the house.

A kerosene heater in the house sounds like a BAD idea to me.....

The wheel and the 5 gallon bucket were the best inventions ever. Totally transformed mankind.
This kinda weather event makes the value of those buckets come to fruition.
fresh water storage & transport.
washing things.
frozen toilet solution.
Stay warm and be Hygee like the Scandanavians

The wheel and the 5 gallon bucket were the best inventions ever. Totally transformed mankind.
This kinda weather event makes the value of those buckets come to fruition.
fresh water storage & transport.
washing things.
frozen toilet solution.
Stay warm and be Hygge like the Scandinavians