During the winter of 2021, some of the worst and costliest winter storms in United States history swept through the country. These storms became known as Winter Storm Uri and Viola and came along with a cold wave. Yet despite this, deaths were minimal and everyone sheltered inside their homes and weathered the blast of arctic air. The power also stayed on for everyone allowing them all to use their heaters. Everyone that is except for Texans. Instead, Texas experienced near catastrophic power outages. Between 250 to 800 people died in Texas from various causes related to the cold weather, but there could have been thousands of unreported deaths indirectly caused by the events. What is most horrifying is that there could have been tens of thousands of deaths or more if the power grid in Texas collapsed which would have left Texas without power for the remainder of the freezing weather and for weeks and months afterwards. And this very well could have happened as the grid was seconds from collapse as the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, has admitted. Once a grid collapses or is automatically shutoff to prevent damage to infrastructure, it typically can take weeks or months to “black start” or reboot the grid. An entire state with its 30 million inhabitants would have had to stave off hypothermia with heat generated from fire and from whatever warming shelters that may have existed running on generators. In a chaotic scramble for these limited heat sources tens of thousands could succumb to hypothermia. Texas also would be entirely reliant on surrounding states and the federal government for food and water during this entire time. This factor would have added many countless deaths to the death toll. How could the energy capital of the world experience such near catastrophic power grid failure? Join me as we explore these questions and this terrible natural disaster that is known today in Texas as the Great Texas Freeze.

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