Texas has been ravaged by a freezing storm. On Sunday night, while the storm raged on, the power grid took a beating leading to rolling blackouts across the state for around 4.3 million residents. As the power outages continue, they have set off a cascade of other problems, knocking some water treatment plants and cell phone networks offline.

Winter storms are just one more reason to prepare.  Normally Texans don’t have to deal with storms of this magnitude as far south as they are, but there are always acceptions.

Due to a prolonged power outage at the water treatment plant, Pflugerville is under a boil water notice. We are working with Oncor to restore power, but until further notice, all city water customers must boil their water prior to consumption. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/alhpeSfyaN

— Pflugerville, TX (@PflugervilleTX) February 15, 2021

Officials in Abilene said the city has lost water service altogether, leaving 124,000 residents entirely without a reliable source of drinking water as of Monday night, according to a report by RT. 

What To Do NOW To Prep For A Winter Power Outage

Cell phone service is starting to break down over the region as back up generators at towers are freezing or running out of fuel or both.

Increasing outages will be possible overnight.

— County Judge KP George (@JudgeKPGeorge) February 16, 2021

People at the Austin Fire Department are battling with the element that is usually on their side when they deal with blazes. Water pipes have been bursting by the hundreds throughout the city as it was gripped by extreme cold. Responding to them was a challenge since the AFD have their plate full with other emergencies, RT reported further. 

The situation is quickly becoming dire for the many who have ailed to adequately prepare for a storm and the loss of the grid.

At 9:30 PM we are up to 582 Broken Water Pipe calls since midnight. Over 500 are since noon. We are attempting to respond to as many as we can amongst other priority calls. Dispatchers are almost continuously answering additional calls.

— Austin Fire Info (@AustinFireInfo) February 16, 2021

Governor Greg Abbott has been taking a lot of flak from Texans who are unhappy with how he has dealt with this crisis. He deployed the National Guard and allocated other resources to deal with the power outages, but people say the troops can’t help them make their homes warm again.  Deploying the military when people need heat in their homes is about the most useless thing a politician has done since they shut down the economy in March of last year.

If you can help please do so.  People in Texas are struggling and the solution seems to be to call in the military. Welcome to 2021.  This is our dystopia.  But we have a chance to prove we don’t need these tyrants by helping each other and doing the right thing.