Member-only story
Texans Speak Out on How They’ve Been Failed
A governmental failure from top to bottom
First, it began with a deadly 135-car pileup in Fort Worth, Texas, and then everything quickly spiraled out of control. Last week, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and several other states suffered from blackouts. Half a million people in the country did not have electricity, with Texas taking the lead in its cases, and in that same state, 14 million citizens have boiling water notices. Not only has climate change reared its ugly head again, but also the costs of the GOP backing a privatized power grid. An 11-year-old boy died after his mobile home lost power. Another almost ran out of oxygen. One froze to death in his bed.
We at ZORA are listening, watching, and donating to Texans in need, and we have been fortunate to find those who had the energy and strength to give us eyewitness accounts of all that is going on. Pay attention to this space as we will be updating with dispatches as more come in.
Von, Austin
To be honest it has been miserable and more traumatic than March 2020 when there was no food. We are dealing with no heat, water, or electricity. It’s cold and wet. I needed to leave my place because I ran out of wood to burn. It was not safe to burn just anything to stay warm. The first few days it was unsafe to drive on the roads because of the ice. It had been devastating overall to know that Austin Energy turned off our power and didn’t think to give us a warning or let us know why. Everything is an afterthought and puts the lives of children, disabled, elderly, and homeless in danger.
The day after there were very few stores open in south Austin. We are back to long lines to get into stores and there is no bottled water or bread in the majority of these stores. The preparation for this disaster seemed to be a lack of planning or leadership.
I was only able to access a hotel because of the generosity of Twitter users. I live paycheck to paycheck and a hotel expense for me would have been impossible without their help and monetary support and donations.
Daniel Peña, Houston
I’m exhausted trying to love a state that doesn’t love me back. I think we’ve seen a reenvisioning or…
