Texas In Fallujah

As millions of Texans continue struggling without electricity or potable water, Gov. Greg Abbott says he doesn't know which parts of the state should expect power to return. And more boil-water notices are expected. https://t.co/PbTtybNI4o

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) February 18, 2021

We are getting power, as our power overloads deem to give it to us.  Power went off yesterday at 6; came back on at 10:30.  We are told to expect this now, into the foreseeable future.

Water pressure is still low; switching power on and off is not helping keep the pumps running.  Stand-by generators for water pumps froze earlier; literally.  Temps are just below freezing now (v. low teens earlier this week) so that problem may yet abate. City promises full pressure by tonight, but they said that yesterday, too.

It's like living in a besieged city where power is on when generators are working, and off when the militants attack or the generators fail because they are for shit.  It's not so much the inability to heat the house (though that's not a small thing.  The house I am in has no insulation in the walls; nobody built them that way down here 60 years ago) as the inability to open the refrigerator or to function at night (why they turn the power off at night is literally beyond me.  I'd be happier with it being off right now, in the morning, than when the sun is down.).

Mostly it's the inability to know what the fuck is coming next.  And Gov. Absent has no idea, either.

Nobody knows shit, and the situation is turning apocalyptic.

Texans running low on food are finding empty grocery store shelves. Food pantries are running out of supplies. And the freeze has wiped out substantial portions of the state's citrus and vegetable crops. https://t.co/ERqUVwVkKY

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) February 18, 2021

Dairy farmers around Texas are pouring $8 million worth of milk down the drain every day because they can't get it to dairies, Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said. https://t.co/aOT0CcJSYS

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) February 18, 2021

I'm sure our leaders will find a way to blame the Green New Deal for all of this. Again.

Green New Deal of United States congresswoman Alexandria Cortez blamed. https://t.co/tagWL2kIc2

— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) February 18, 2021