One of the worst parts about the current situation in Texas (in which millions are without some combination of power, water, and gas and the roads are deadly dangerous) is that we don’t know when it will end.
How long does it take to refill a drained water system?
How long does it take to get a power plant functional again once it’s thawed?
How long does it take to get the electric grid booted back up fully once supply can finally meet demand?
How long does it take to replace burst pipes, and repair the damages they cause?
And what does it look like in the meantime?
At the moment, the most promising day is Saturday. That’s the day most of the state will finally thaw out and stay thawed out overnight. But between now and then, it’s uncertainty all the way down.
We’re really lucky at The Barking Crow to have property damage at the top of our list of concerns. Our lives are not at risk, and at the moment our lives are far from being at risk. We’ve been among the less-than-half of Austin that’s never lost power. Our pipes, as of now, have not frozen. We do not currently need to boil our water. If these things stay this way, Saturday should be the day we can feel “back to normal.” But for many, normal is a long, long way away, with much to be lost and no guarantee they’ll get there.
This is a mess. And we seem to be at least 67 hours from that changing.
