Tiffany Holloway, a TikTok content maker, has never understood doomsday preppers, believing that preparing for terrible events is a bit foolish. She has developed strategies to prepare for natural catastrophes. She offers them on her TikTok platform after narrowly acquiring the means to keep her family safe during the Texas February frost.
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Texas Freeze Experience
Holloway stated in one of her videos, "I used to make fun of preppers for thinking they're paranoid, and now I'm one, and I'll never make fun of someone like that again."
She'd heard on the news that it was going to snow, which had piqued the interest of her three small children. As ice clung to the palm trees, the cold rushed into Galveston, Texas, bringing the first few flakes; it sparked even more excitement and wonder.
Then the electricity went off.
Because the Holloway family had previously experienced power outages due to storms, they knew what to seek in the grocery store: water bottles, flashlights, batteries, and blankets. They entered the store without incident, but a queue of people waiting to buy goods formed around the business as they exited.
Holloway told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell, "It's like everyone had the same idea at the same moment."
Related Article: Experts Share Tips on How to Protect Pipes From Freezing During Winter Season
Survival Situation
The temperature in their flat had dropped to 30 degrees by the time they came home. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Galveston dropped to 22 degrees F on Feb. 15, with some neighboring marine stations registering temperatures as low as 15 degrees during the weekend.
There was little to no insulation from the wind blowing off the water because I was living in a condo flat with glass walls facing the beach at the time.
"The first night, I thought to myself, 'We can do this,'" said Holloway. She had dressed the kids in jackets, boots, and sleeping bags, and they had a good time with the headlamps. However, Holloway awoke at 4 a.m. to find the flat had become so chilly that the water bottle by her bed had solidified. She rushed her children to the car after realizing their home wasn't safe to stay in overnight.
"I broke down and just began weeping because I didn't know what to do at that moment," Holloway said. "Almost every hotel was fully booked; there was just nothing left."
Texas is Unprepared for Freezing
The power infrastructure across the state was not ready or weatherized to manage all of the winter storm's threats; therefore, hotels were packed during the winter outbreak as people sought warm refuge. Holloway acquired a room at Moody Gardens Resort Inn and Suites, a premium resort in Galveston, eventually, albeit not without difficulties. For $300 to $400 a night, she was able to shelter her family in the hotel for three days, as well as her neighbor, who she had found burning cardboard boxes in their apartment parking garage, trying to keep her infant baby warm. Hundreds of others did not have the same success.
"There were hundreds of people waiting outside this hotel," Holloway added. "We sat in the lobby, and they were able to get us a room, but many others who arrived after me were unable to obtain a room even though they had booked it since it was just not available."
In July, the Texas Department of State Health Services revised the official death toll, reporting that more than 200 individuals died
+ due to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and automobile accidents on ice-covered roadways across the state. According to the state's count, at least ten people died in Galveston. Harris County, where Austin is situated, had the most deaths, with 43, Travis County with 38, and Dallas County with 20.
Holloway explained, "Texas isn't constructed for cold." "Our houses aren't insulated. Our roads don't have giant salt trucks driving around to battle the ice that forms on the roads. We don't have Northface coats and other items offered in our local stores. We don't have a method to handle the cold because Texas isn't constructed for it."
Also Read: How the Arrival of La Niña Can Possibly Worsen the Incoming Winter Drought
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