The state of Texas is notorious for its unpredictable weather. Most Texans are used to scorching temperatures to tornadoes to hailstorms within the span of a week, or even less. Something most Texans aren't used to, however, is snow. Schools get shut down at the chance of roads icing, people bundling up in winter coats if the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. For a state used to dealing with 100+ degree temperatures, being unaccustomed to the snow isn't unexpected, and not seen as a major issue considering the rarity Texas encounters snow in the first place. However, this recent week, Texas was caught in the middle of a major winter storm, one which had devastating effects on both the people and the government.

Texas operates on its own deregulated power grid, something incredibly unique to the state itself. Said power grid is overseen by the company ERCOT (Electricity Reliability Council of Texas), which is responsible for the price of power, balancing supply and demand, as well as overseeing the maintenance of important structures in the grid itself. The Texas government actually passed legislation in order to keep the state's power grid deregulated, and recent findings have discovered that the government had known about the vulnerabilities in the grids for years but, instead of setting aside the proper amount in order to repair and 'winterize' the important structures, lawmakers prioritized the interested of large electricity companies and didn't require the changes to be made.

As we all know now, this had devastating consequences. When the winter storm hit, most Texans were entirely unprepared, only having been given a week notice for the storm and not understanding the full intensity that was to come. The problems started the Wednesday before the storm, with an extremely large pile-up happening on 35W, involving over 100 cars due to the improper road conditions. On Monday morning, millions of Texas residents found themselves without power, heat, or water, and the roads covered in inches of unpaved snow. Without heat, many houses dropped to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and Texas found themselves without running water or electricity. Most expected this to last a few hours, but for a large portion of Texans it stretched for days, with nearly 350,000 Texas still without power on Thursday morning. Texans were finding themselves with flooded houses due to burst pipes, with week long wait lists for plumbers and little to-no help from insurance companies.

This extreme cut-off by those responsible wasn't just uncomfortable, but deadly. An 11-year-old boy died from hypothermia after the electricity in his home went out. A grandmother and her 3 grandchildren were killed in a house fire after trying to stay warm. A mother and her young daughter died of carbon monoxide poisoning after sleeping in their car in their garage, in a desperate attempt to warm up despite the icy temperatures in their own home. These deaths were preventable, and those directly responsible for them turned blind eyes to the situation, even going on vacations to Cancun while their constituents were freezing to death in their own homes. To many, this serves as a wakeup call, to hold those in power accountable for the lives they are supposed to protect.