The 2021 Texas Winter Storm

Moving away from Chicago, getting caught in a winter storm was the furthest problem in my mind. Though, here I am, like many others living in Texas, without power for about three days. No power sounds bad, but since I grew up in the ChicagoLand Area I still had plenty of hoodies and blankets. From what I’ve heard and seen, many Texas residents were not in the same position. No power, no running water due to pipe bursts, running out of groceries, car accidents from icy/snowy roads, or even housing not built for the cold are a few examples of what people faced this past week.

While I was stuck inside, I documented as much as I could. I had to pick and choose what to charge when the power did come back on for the limited time (roughly an hour and a half), so I had to prioritize charging phones and external sources of light for nighttime. I still managed to get some cool shots that I will want to look back on in the future. It’s probably been about three years since I felt cold like this. Ice encased over my car as well as plants. If it wasn’t so serious, it would truly look like a winter wonderland. 

I tried to make the best of the situation I was facing at hand, and naturally, putting a camera in my hand helped. Going through that, was definitely an experience to say the least. I feel fortunate that nothing too crazy happened to myself or my roommates, mainly just learning how to cook and navigate in the dark with only so many lights and a couple candles. We did have the chance to actually sit down and go over everything we thought we needed in the moment. Extra candles, double ‘A’ batteries, portable chargers, and maybe a bit more canned food on hand were a few items we listed. Now that we are back with power, I really wanted to share this and the images from this event. This may have been a short post, but I know it was important to acknowledge what happened and how it looked from my point of view.

Still, people across Texas are still dealing with the repercussions of the storm, so below I will leave a couple links to help aid for Texas relief.