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Obviously this is terrible but bad weather happens as do natural disasters. I would be very frustrated to be without heat for days when it was unusually cold. People were apparently told to not plug in certain devices. Did that apply to heaters? I live in New England and have two heaters in my home at the moment. We've had a few rainstorms that happened the past year or so and were without power for 4 hours. We ended up buying a generator.
Do you think the power company is at fault? I mean it's terrible that the boy died...but people survived cold winters without heat before. Where was the mother? Sounds like the boy was in bed with a 3 year old. Why did the mother not get in bed with them too to provide more warmth? She's pretty quick to sue for a $100 million though.
I hate to say it but if they had stayed in Mexico this wouldnt have happened. When will people realize that the US isn't always the best option?
Here in Louisiana, Entergy and other power companies issued rolling blackouts to help reduce the draw from the power grid. What they don't realize is that people needs some form of electricity to live, due to medical problems. Cutting the power off to the elderly and also to young children can be devastating because the people are limited to what or how to keep warm. Yes, generators can be used. But what use would it be if you run out of fuel, also dangers of overpowering the generator causing fires and deaths associated from the carbon monoxide.
Yes, she could have gotten in bed and maintain body heat, there are many coulda shoulda moments. Thing is, we don't know what went on and why she wasn't there.
And also, would you really not use a heater of the power company advised not to? I know I would. Common sense would tell you that. But I forgot, common sense is a thing of the past these days.
Obviously this is terrible but bad weather happens as do natural disasters. I would be very frustrated to be without heat for days when it was unusually cold. People were apparently told to not plug in certain devices. Did that apply to heaters? I live in New England and have two heaters in my home at the moment. We've had a few rainstorms that happened the past year or so and were without power for 4 hours. We ended up buying a generator.
Do you think the power company is at fault? I mean it's terrible that the boy died...but people survived cold winters without heat before. Where was the mother? Sounds like the boy was in bed with a 3 year old. Why did the mother not get in bed with them too to provide more warmth? She's pretty quick to sue for a $100 million though.
I hate to say it but if they had stayed in Mexico this wouldnt have happened. When will people realize that the US isn't always the best option?
I really cannot make a judgment on whether or not the lawsuit has merit - The courts will sort this out. Regardless, it's a tragic loss to the family.
However, I've had a generator for years and maintain at least 20-25 gallons of fuel that I rotate out through the year. In regards to my family's safety, I will not hold the power company to a higher standard than I hold for myself.
Obviously this is terrible but bad weather happens as do natural disasters. I would be very frustrated to be without heat for days when it was unusually cold. People were apparently told to not plug in certain devices. Did that apply to heaters? I live in New England and have two heaters in my home at the moment. We've had a few rainstorms that happened the past year or so and were without power for 4 hours. We ended up buying a generator.
Do you think the power company is at fault? I mean it's terrible that the boy died...but people survived cold winters without heat before. Where was the mother? Sounds like the boy was in bed with a 3 year old. Why did the mother not get in bed with them too to provide more warmth? She's pretty quick to sue for a $100 million though.
I hate to say it but if they had stayed in Mexico this wouldnt have happened. When will people realize that the US isn't always the best option?
Then don't say it. What a disgusting comment. I live in a suburb near this family, and I know exactly what happened. Assuming the boy froze to death, ERCOT is 100% at fault. Conroe was about 10 degrees at the time of the boy's death. ERCOT claims they instituted rolling blackouts. They were actually catastrophic power failures. Our neighborhood was without power for 22 hours straight, which was nothing compared to other areas. Some were without power 40 hours or more. Their homes reached 32 degrees INSIDE. Afterward, ERCOT initiated rolling blackouts of 1-2 hours power on, 2-3 hours power off. This lasted about 24 hours until power was fully restored.
The power failures were caused by lack of weatherization. It wasn't the storm; it was ERCOT's lack of preparation. All we had were blankets. Also, mobile homes have terrible insulation. They lose heat faster than regular homes. And you blame the mother? What more could she have done? Obviously she couldn't have used electric heaters without power. Have you actually tried to live in a home two days in the winter without heat? It sounds like you haven't. We just did and by the time it was over, my wife and I were crazy from being so cold.
A tragedy but something doesn’t seem right. He allegedly was sleeping under a pile of blankets with his 3 yr old brother. Was the brother fine? We had a case of a child dying with hypothermia in my hometown. Turns out the poor boy had been forced to sleep in the garage as a punishment.
Who knows what happened but it is too bad for the boy and the family.
On a different note she certainly wasted no time in filing a law suit.
I've been without heat for a few hours here in New England yes. Homeless people also sleep outside in 0 degree weather for days and survive. It is hard to understand how someone died indoors under covers in a bed with someone else. I guess we'll see how this plays out.
A tragedy but something doesn’t seem right. He allegedly was sleeping under a pile of blankets with his 3 yr old brother. Was the brother fine? We had a case of a child dying with hypothermia in my hometown. Turns out the poor boy had been forced to sleep in the garage as a punishment.
Who knows what happened but it is too bad for the boy and the family.
On a different note she certainly wasted no time in filing a law suit.
Exactly. Something seems off. I have no doubts that it was cold inside the house but it does seem pretty extreme that one would die when thousands of people sleep homeless outside for days, weeks, etc.
I've been without heat for a few hours here in New England yes. Homeless people also sleep outside in 0 degree weather for days and survive. It is hard to understand how someone died indoors under covers in a bed with someone else. I guess we'll see how this plays out.
But there's a big difference between you and people in Conroe, TX. You're used to extremely cold temperatures and they aren't. And all of us were without power at least 30 hours total. That said, I won't speculate on the cause of the boy's death. It's quite possible he had COVID; our numbers are off the charts here and kids are in in-person school. If so, even with mild symptoms, combined with the cold exposure, it could have been enough to kill him even if the mom's story is kosher.
Many homes in the south don’t have a fireplace nor wood burning stove. Most homes are heated by a central unit with either electric heat strips or natural gas/propane. Portable electric heaters use a large amount of electricity. A week before the cold front approached all the area stores stopped carrying space heaters of any type (im in south Louisiana) I had to rush order a heater to avoid a high gas bill. A propane or kerosene space heater is our only option for heat if we don’t have electricity. Our homes aren’t as insulated for such weather over several days.
As for the lawsuit, it depends. Did the utility company have adequate capacity available to increase power production during the outage to prevent or limit rolling blackouts? We’re there freeze protection measures recommended from the previous Texas freeze that weren’t put into place prior to this freeze causing generating stations to shut down? If so then there may be a case of negligence that contributed to these people’s deaths. However the ultimate responsibility lies with the parents. The parents should have done everything possible to keep the child warm. Multiple blankets shared with multiple bodies to keep each other warm or calling for help and seeking shelter prior to hypothermia are just some options. They could have also put on layers of clothing on their child to help prevent hypothermia. But if they can prove some form of negligence on the part of the utility company then they may succeed in some monetary award.
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