Turning Point USA

I kid you not, I am writing this as I stare out of my office window at the bright turquoise-blue pool of my apartment complex in the Hill Country of Texas, and it is surrounded by SNOW.

Just last week, I was wearing open-toe shoes and a summery dress, sitting at my desk, watching little kids swimming in that pool, and now we are in the midst of a straight-up ice-apocalypse in Texas.

But let’s get something straight: this isn’t a case of Texans acting tough 24/7 and suddenly wimping out when things get a little cold. I can personally attest to this. I only came to Texas five months ago when I moved from snow-central Upstate New York down to Texas’s San Antonio region, and until now, the climate has been consistently warm and humid.

My friend Jordan Rachel just wrote an awesome piece explaining what’s going on with the Texas energy supply, the hypocrisy of the left on the issue, and the danger of heavily relying on renewable energy.

I’m here to paint a vivid picture of what’s happening on the ground in Texas and explain the other implications of this extreme weather and the energy failure.

The main roads and highways are straight-up closed. There is no salt to alleviate the danger of icy roads. In Upstate New York and other areas that are used to freezing weather, a few inches, or even a foot of snow, it’s no biggy BECAUSE it’s quickly fixed with a little salt on the roads and some plowing. Heck, it snows this much almost every day where I used to live.

But what do you do when salting and clearing the roads isn’t possible? Well, nothing. The roads remain covered in a thick, dangerous layer of ice.

I’ve always been a confident driver in freezing weather (except for the time in high school when I ended up in a ditch during a snowstorm… that’s a story for another day). But I can tell you this: driving in semi-icy or snowy conditions with no salt or protections is ten times more dangerous, and it’s what Texans are faced with doing right now.

Jarred and I took the F-350 down the road to get necessities because we were running out of toilet paper and other items, and we saw abandoned cars and SUVs scattered around the sides of the road in ditches.

Now think of the bigger implication of closed roads and impossibly icy conditions: transportation of goods has been put to a halt. Jarred and I went to H-E-B on Valentine’s Day to pick up some groceries. First of all, it was empty because very few were interested in braving the snowy conditions, and second of all, the H-E-B employees warned us that we should pick up whatever items we could because trucks transporting food items weren’t going to make it into town for many days. The worst part is that the shelves were already looking empty.

Not only is the icy climate affecting food supply, but it’s getting even more serious: people in my area who rely on the delivery of crucial medication to their home are being told the medicine and equipment can’t be delivered. As a result, vulnerable patients are forced to make the dangerous trip to a nearby hospital. (And remember what I said about the cars scattered in the ditches?)

Now, as Jordan touched on, massive numbers of Texans are going without electricity, heat, and running water. And while this is something I’m fairly used to during winter storms in Upstate New York, it’s a whole new ballgame in Texas. In New York, it’s normal to have an extra-large supply of firewood to heat the house, especially during hard times. But in Texas? People are scavenging through their yard, even talking about burning their wooden furniture to make a fire to heat the house.

This morning, I woke up to a tragic news story revealing that a mother and her child were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after attempting to heat the house by leaving the car running in the garage.

I’m telling you this because I’ve seen a lot of jokes and memes on the internet about how Texans are failing to get through a tiny snow storm that is “everyday weather” in other areas of the country.

As someone who literally just arrived in Texas from one of those snowy winter states, I can confirm the following: The weather is typically nowhere near as cold, snowy, or icy as many others in America are used to. But just because it’s not as cold or snowy as other low-temperature areas does not mean it’s less dangerous.

As for me, I had a flight to New York scheduled for this morning, but it was cancelled due to major road closures and struggles from the airport to get rid of snow and ice on the runway.

I’m lucky enough to say my electricity is still on, but our water began to dwindle this morning. As for food, I’m limited to what I have saved in my freezer, so right now, I’m enjoying a lunch of frozen corn and breakfast sausage. Oh yeah!