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NOTE: This is NOT a political discussion. Nor is it a preparedness discussion. It's about decision making.
After watching the kerfuffle around Ted Cruz going to Cancun to escape the bad Texas weather, I got to thinking. With conditions so bad, why didn't more people choose to leave for a few days to get out of the cold?
In the past, one main reason to stay would have been because of having to work. However, with the pandemic, most people are working from home and could work from anywhere for a few days.
Property safety wouldn't be an issue because people routinely leave their homes unoccupied for a few days while they go on vacation. Worrying about frozen pipes wouldn't matter because that's an uncontrollable variable. The pipes would burst with or without you being home.
It has been such a tragedy. So, why didn't more people choose to temporarily relocate for a few days? Did they not think about it? Was it because they didn't have the money?
City-data seems to get a lot of these posts that start out reassuring us that they just want to have a calm, rational discussion of an event, but then as the thread progresses it becomes clear that their goal is to make fun of victims and blame them for their suffering. Some folks need a new hobby.
Frozen pipes are not an uncontrollable variable. if you drip your faucets, they might not freeze. If they do freeze, you can shut off the water so it doesn't cause catastrophic damage to your house when the pipes thaw.
If you lived in, say, Houston, where would you have gone to escape the storm?
And what if thousands of other Houstonians went to the same place and there were no hotel rooms left? Would you rather be miserable in your own home for a few days with no power/water or be miserable sleeping on a Red Cross cot on the floor of an Alabama convention center?
Ted was in Washington today. Why did he come back to Texas. I guess he had to feed Snowflake. Apparently giving those water bottles was more important than isolating after being in Mexico.
1. No money set aside for an extended vacation out of town.
2. Having money but unsure of where to go.
3. Leaving pets behind.
4. Leaving behind elderly relatives in nursing homes and unable to travel.
5. Concerns about the security of one's home in an abandoned town.
6. Concerns about contracting COVID while traveling.
7. Staying behind due to a sense of responsibility to one's community and a desire to help out one's neighbors where one can.
Note: #7 is becoming less of a motivation for many people these days, and all too often not factored into one's decisions on how to act in a state of emergency.
It could be any and all of this, or it could be none of the above.
It was more than just driveways that were iced solid. Neighborhood streets, state highways, and interstates as well. HUNDREDS of miles of SOLID ICE to leave the state. How long would that drive be? Are you feeling lucky? Even if you had studded tires, dodging everyone else on the road would be a full time job and likely lead you to having your own accident.
That rules out driving.
Flying rules out many pets, who will SURELY perish if left behind without electricity. Not to mention, how do you plan on GETTING to the airport?
City-data seems to get a lot of these posts that start out reassuring us that they just want to have a calm, rational discussion of an event, but then as the thread progresses it becomes clear that their goal is to make fun of victims and blame them for their suffering. Some folks need a new hobby.
Frozen pipes are not an uncontrollable variable. if you drip your faucets, they might not freeze. If they do freeze, you can shut off the water so it doesn't cause catastrophic damage to your house when the pipes thaw.
I'm not blaming anyone for their misfortune. I was curious about personal suffering in an unfortunate situation. I wanted other's opinions because I was thinking what I would do in the same situation.
In a best case scenario, I would personally want to leave and go somewhere with less harsh weather. I was trying to educate myself on the reasons why I would stay in light of my personal circumstances.
I did the same personal review back in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina and seeing all of that devastation.
It was more than just driveways that were iced solid. Neighborhood streets, state highways, and interstates as well. HUNDREDS of miles of SOLID ICE to leave the state. How long would that drive be? Are you feeling lucky? Even if you had studded tires, dodging everyone else on the road would be a full time job and likely lead you to having your own accident.
That rules out driving.
Flying rules out many pets, who will SURELY perish if left behind without electricity. Not to mention, how do you plan on GETTING to the airport?
This ^^^. Southern states are not equipped to deal with major ice and snow events for roads and highways. Some main arteries might be somewhat cleared but the majority just have to wait until the mess melts.
You are taking your life into your hands trying to drive basically on an ice rink. If you are in an accident, you could be there for hours before help gets to you. The general plea from local governments is “stay put!” in winter storms, for their sake and yours.
As far as neighbors in the same boat, we have been through hurricanes, ice storms and loss of power with both in our neighborhood. After the major storm ends, you immediately hear chainsaws start up and it is a group effort to clear everyone's driveway plus the road if blocked by downed trees. We have all pulled out the barbecues and grilled food to share which would be wasted with no power.
I am sorry that more people did not think to protect their pipes (drain/turn off their water), or keep a drip going, but this was a very unusual event. We actually turn off our water every time we go on vacation after relatives came home to a destroyed home with a collapsed ceiling due to a leak.
We never would have left our dog so flying out would be out of the question.
I was in Texas during the mess. I was supposed to be there just Saturday and leave Sunday. I left on Wednesday. Why not leave? because no airplanes were leaving. Most flights got cancelled day after day. Also prices were jacked way up. I thought about buying a one way ticket home on a different airlines because a few airlines were getting a few flights out each day, but the one way from Dallas to Detroit was $2400.
Our Texan family did not leave because they had no place to go. Or because they are too old to fly. Or because they had to go to work. Or because they needed to look after their frozen home. Or because finding food and heat for their family to priority over trying to find a way out of Texas without using computers for booking flights ro gasoline (since it was not readily available). Then you have pets, small children, parents/grandparents, or whatever to take care of.
Otherwise, no real reason to not leave that I can think of.
I live in Texas. The reasons are many. They couldn't afford to. They had no where to go (they would have had to go out of state). They have jobs and just can't pack up and leave. They had absolutely no reason to believe out state would be so incompetent an unprepared that the entire grid would go down for nearly a week. We have no snow plows, salt trucks, etc. So once people realized how screwed they were, they literally could not go anywhere. And even if they could, gas pumps don't work without electricity. And those few that had electricity didn't have gas because the roads were impassible and trucks to deliver gas couldn't get to them. Texas is a big state. Even on a full tank of gas, you would only get so far as another part of Texas that also didn't have power or water. People literally couldn't leave. And it's not like a hurricane. We weren't warned and there was no where to evacuate to even if we were.
They had absolutely no reason to believe out state would be so incompetent an unprepared that the entire grid would go down for nearly a week.
It isn't just Texas, it's every state; power lines should have been buried decades ago unless seawater intrusion prevents it.
I'm 1,000 miles north of you, and should we receive a substantial ice storm with high winds; it would be grid down situation here as well. I'm not certain how long backup generators would keep the water flowing here either, broken pipes or not.
And while I do respect the OP not wishing for thread to discuss preparedness, I do feel it is important.
In fact, I'm not; so am considering a generator just b/c of what I witnessed in your state.
Best wishes on getting back to normal there, hopefully soon.
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