ILast week, Malori Elsner’s family was battling power outages in their poorly insulated rented house near Houston, Texas, burning cardboard in the fireplace to keep warm during a deadly explosion in the Arctic.
But even as they endured the cold, their electricity bill skyrocketed – Texas’s unregulated power grid had gone crazy, and Elsner sat there helplessly, “knowing that I’m sucking money, but having no choice because it’s eight degrees outside.”
Then, a pipe burst in his attic. As the water cascaded into the garage, kitchen and dining room, they ran frantically trying to figure out what to do – until Elsner touched a light switch and electricity went up his arm.
“At that point, I ran out into the yard and turned the breaker on,” she said. Their house was no longer structurally secure, and when they packed up to be with a relative, the roof started to collapse.
After the devastating winter weather left Texans shivering last week, the warmer temperatures and storefronts in open stores have restored some appearance of normalcy. But the remnants of the storm could haunt parts of the state for months – or even years – after catastrophes worsened in a real humanitarian crisis. Its impact on finances, health and households and state politics and economics will not simply disappear now that the hot sun has returned and the media spotlight has changed.
The storm simply shocked the state. First came the intense cold, then the slippery roads and sidewalks caused by the ice. And when large areas of Texas lost energy, water, or both, what was originally a natural disaster turned into a technological failure that lasted almost a week.
“They are telling people to boil water,” said Robert Emery, vice president of security and professor at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston. “But many people have no power. So now what do you do? “
Poor state emergency management will have far-reaching consequences, from an outsized impact on already disadvantaged communities – usually communities of color – to a potential increase in the cost of living. Bitter lawsuits can destroy communities and taxpayers are likely to have to bail out the same fossil fuel companies responsible for the network’s collapse.
“I suspect it will be very corrosive and disturbing,” said James Elliott, professor of sociology at Rice University. “People are not going to regain confidence in their institutions very quickly.
“In the long run, maybe that’s a good thing. I hope people remain angry. I am hungry.”
A lethal storm, superimposed on a pandemic
“It’s one thing to be cold,” but “being cold in the dark” is “even more miserable,” said Emery.
As millions of Texans were left without energy or drinking water, sometimes for days, they turned to dangerous solutions, such as gas stoves, cars and generators to keep warm. Hundreds suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. Others died of suspected hypothermia. Still others died in domestic fires after lighting the fireplace.
Drivers skidded and crashed through frozen roads and defective streetlights, while cold weather shelters filled with displaced people despite Covid-19.
“People were already stressed out and dealing with a variety of challenges with the pandemic, and having that on top of it was really a big challenge for all the citizens of Texas,” said Emery.
Now, residents affected by a shortage of plumbers, electricians and other skilled workers are trying to repair their homes on their own, threatening “an inevitable series of injuries,” Emery said. And, as the climate becomes more favorable for fungal growth, the hidden damage from water leaks represents another threat to public health.
There are also possible ramifications for mental health. Families were already in mourning for more than 42,000 Texans killed by Covid-19, and the winter storm brought more suffering, trauma and death.
“Resilience is one thing,” said Elliott. “Resilience when things go on indefinitely can just leave you without the ability to hope.”
A blow to the Texas economy
Part of what makes Texas so appealing to residents and executives is its relative accessibility, compared to other trendy states, like New York and California.
But this month’s winter storm was not an anomaly: extreme weather events are expected to become even more frequent as climate change accelerates, and Texas remains incredibly vulnerable. After last week’s calamity, power plants, homes and businesses have little choice but to “prepare for winter”.
These upgrades will have a high price that is likely to be passed on to consumers, raising electricity rates, construction costs and insurance premiums, said Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
“This reduces the cost advantage that we have been benefiting from … for a long time,” said Orrenius.
The authorities’ inability to deal with the crisis could also impact Texas economic growth and job creation, even as it is about to become the next Silicon Valley. Major technology companies, like Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, are moving to Texas amid the coronavirus pandemic, partly fueled by lower costs and favorable tax rates.
But after witnessing a total collapse of the state’s infrastructure, companies that need reliable sources of energy and water to power their operations can rethink the change, unless those concerns are somehow alleviated, warned Lloyd Potter, a demographer of the state of Texas and professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The subsequent loss of highly skilled, high-paying jobs would be a blow to Texans in general, said Potter, but especially to those below the socioeconomic spectrum.
“In terms of magnitude and gravity, [this] it was, you know, more than anything we’ve experienced historically, ”he said. “The consequences of not solving this would be potentially beautiful, very strong.”
A disproportionate toll
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist,” said Elliott. “Those who have less resources to recover from this will suffer more. And that suffering will be further exacerbated. “
When the power grid failed last week, residents of low-income and disadvantaged communities struggled with poor insulation, lack of food and a lack of shared circuits with critical infrastructure that would keep their lights on.
Now, as the state begins repairs, the same inequalities are likely to influence who gets the much-needed funding – and who stays behind.
“The real disaster is how we recover in the long run from these natural hazards,” said Elliott. “There is the event, but the disaster really happens the moment it happens.”
While researchers are trying to push for more equity in disaster response, aid has historically gone to “who lost the most, not the one who needs it most,” said Elliott – restoring properties, not the community.
This generally exacerbates pre-existing wealth inequalities and “the more damage there is in one place over time, the more unequal wealth becomes,” explained Elliott.
Even the acute difficulties of the storm – broken pipes, hotel bills, etc. – will fall more heavily on Texans who are less able to deal with them, since “unexpected out-of-pocket expenses are much more difficult for people … living wages on wages,” Potter said.
The storm will also aggravate problems for families who have already lost income due to the recession caused by Covid-19, which is now paying for home repairs and high electricity bills, despite their bank accounts are exhausted.
“It happened at a very unfortunate time, when many people were already struggling,” said Orrenius.
Earlier this week, Elsner’s belongings were still standing in her kitchen, molding, hoping her landlord would clean up so she could take an inventory for an insurance claim.
His family tried to find a new place to live, but houses were quickly disappearing from the market.
“The past year has been very difficult here,” she said, “with these extraordinary disasters happening all the time and being constantly eliminated.
“The city, the state – nobody is doing anything.”