They are calling it the Snow-pocalypse and selling t-shirts that say, “I survived Snovid-21.” It was an easy, restful week off of school for my family, and if my heart wasn’t hurting for my friends and neighbors then a week of very low temperatures would have been nothing. Texans might complain about it being winter, but snow falls about once a year in Fort Worth. It was our electric grid going down, causing people to be without heat for multiple days that caused all the suffering. Then water pipes froze and burst, and people had to turn off their water. The water plants lost power and couldn’t clean the water, so some people had to boil their water before drinking it. It was a mess.
The politicians are calling for meetings and casting blame. I’ve heard that they had been warned that the system was vulnerable, but no one expected such a long bout of cold and snow. The wind turbines froze and solar was out. Some of the fossil fuels were halted because their wells were frozen over too. All this while demand for energy skyrocketed. The energy company tried to institute rolling blackouts to share the outages but spared the neighborhoods close to hospitals and fire stations. I think that our proximity to a hospital was what saved us.
The Thursday before Snow-pocalypse, school was canceled for an ice day. That morning, there was a hundred and thirty-three car pileup on the freeway. I didn’t know the six people who died or anyone who was hurt, but I know friends of friends who were affected, and one of my friends’ husband passed through that corridor ten minutes before the accidents started. We had school on Friday, but the forecast was for snow on Sunday and Monday. Though we hoped that the snow would be clear when school started up after President’s day, I bought enough food to last a week.
I visited my friend Magdalena on Saturday and warned her that we might have to forgo our Sunday afternoon movie. It might be another week before I saw her again. The forecast predicted the storm would start on Sunday, and I knew that I am a horrible driver in ice and snow. The last time I remember using profanity was on an icy road in South Bend, Indiana in December of 1999. The horror of sliding on the ice through a busy intersection is seared into my mind, and that’s an area of the country that knows how to deal with bad winter conditions. I left Magdalena with some warm blankets on the side of her easy chair in which she is bound as her foot slowly heals from surgery last summer.
Magdalena called me on Monday to let me know that her power had just gone out and her phone battery was at five percent. The day went by with kids coming in and out of the snow-filled yard. We made hot chocolate, watched movies, and worked on school stuff. The sun was setting when I thought about Magdalena again. She hadn’t called to let me know her power was back on. My fears for her lengthened with the shadows. The dark of night brought my fears to their height. The ice coating the driveway had effectively trapped me in my home where I would be content to stay if I wasn’t worried about my friend. I ended up calling the police who confirmed that her neighborhood was out of electricity. The dispatcher asked me if I had reason to fear that she was in danger which I didn’t. My fear was a nameless dread. Knowing that she wasn’t alone in her dire straights checked my fears and remembering the blankets on the side of her chair brought me comfort. On social media, I posted a vague call for prayer for all those without heat and Magdalena specifically.
Friends from church read the post and called other friends from church. The next morning someone with a four-wheel-drive truck came to Magdalena with hot tea and chicken noodle soup. They charged her phone in the truck and she was able to call me later that afternoon. What a relief! Our priest sent out a plea for help and people stopped in to check on her and brought warm meals. Magdalena said that she hadn’t realized how many people love her. The whole experience strengthened her faith and taught her not to grumble.
Through-out the week I called friends to check on them. I heard many stories of people hosting their friends, family, or neighbors. Several people, like my friend Mary, were without power, but they wanted to stay in their house. No one knew when the power would come on again and kept hoping for the best. Families piled together in one room and slept nestled up to one another. Anyone with a fireplace burned wood. One of Sophia’s friends was sent to the park to gather kindling, and their parents went to the hardware store to buy lumber.
When we lost water in a sink and the bathtub in the master bathroom, we hurried to the other bathroom with faucets along the outside wall to start the water dripping. I know that they warn against using a space heater to warm pipes because the pipes might burst and the space heater might get in the water and electrocute people, but it worked for us. We opened the cupboard doors and warmed the room, and a day later the water was running again.
Magdalena wasn’t so fortunate. Pipes burst in her apartment and the apartment above her. She woke up to her little chihuahua crying. Poor Lulubell was trapped in her doggy bed surrounded by a couple of inches of water. Magdalena waded over to her, brought Lulubell back to the chair, and kept her on her lap while the water continued to rise. When Magdalena told me about it in her sweet, matter-of-fact way, I pictured her floating through the living room on her recliner and freaked out.
She has so many health problems and teeters on the edge of independence. I urged her to give in and move into a nursing home, but she assured me that she could stick it out and that her independence was worth the temporary sacrifice. The fire department turned off the water to her building. Her daily caregiver came with his cousin to wash the floors. All was set to rights by the time I came over on Saturday morning. She still hadn’t had her water turned on, so I brought a couple of cases of drinking water to put beside her chair and a four-gallon container of water for making the toilet flush. The trouble wasn’t over, but all in all, Magdalena had been right.
The snow melted by Saturday morning and Sophia and Anthony were cleared to see each other and drive out to Arlington for their Valentine’s date at the Melting Pot. Then followed half a week of the nicest days we’d seen in months with highs in the seventies and eighties. We went to Oakmont Park and Jonah, Xenia, and Justin were able to have another adventure following the creek. This week looks to be stormy with thundershowers that will mean hail damage and might turn into a tornado. Nothing would surprise me now.
Magdalena texted me last night that her water was turned on again! Many people will be dealing with the aftermath of Snow-pocalypse for many months to come. People have to deal with loss due to flooding and many people have to pay the plumber. There were a lot of carbon monoxide poisonings from people heating their homes in non-traditional ways, and I know some people who slipped on the ice and broke their bones. In addition to the ER bills, they say our next electric bill will be sky-high. I don’t hear my friends and neighbors grumbling though. Texans like Magdalena are proving to be tough people.
I came out of the week thankful for the time spent with my family. I gave thanks for every warm meal we ate, knowing that so many people had no way to heat up their food, and appreciated every warm shower and the electricity that kept our big home warm. Now I rejoice with my friends who struggled through the week and made it through. Three cheers for Texans. God is so good.
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