Texas Death Toll Rises From Last Winter's Freeze. Will State Repeat This Year?

It's been nearly a year since an intense cold wave struck the South and Midwest and Texas has just updated the number of people killed in that freeze.  

A frozen neighborhood in Texas last February. 
Photo from the Texas Tribune

The Texas power grid, due in large part to mismanagement, failed during the winter storms and subzero temperatures. The new death toll from that disaster is 246, according to the Texas Tribune. State officials recently added 36 deaths to the toll to arrive at that number. 

The ages of those who died ranged from a little under one year old to 102.  Nearly two thirds of those who passed died of hypothermia.  Millions of Texans spent days in frigid, dark, heatless homes during the cold wave and power outages.

It should be noted that Texas might still be seriously underestimating the number of deaths. Other sources have placed the death toll at between 700 and 800.

But no matter how you look at it - 250 dead or 750 - this was still an enormous disaster and tragedy. One that could have at least partially been avoided.  

Estimates of the damage from burst pipes and other issues from the cold and subsequent power failures, along with lost business, vary widely. But most estimates exceed $150 billion, which is more damage than in the catastrophic floods Texas suffered with Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Texas has not winterized power plants, despite decade-old warnings that such a disaster could happen.  Also, unlike in the rest of the country, Texas has a locally pro-business go it alone strategy, so that the state's power grid is independent from surrounding grids.

Elsewhere in the United States, when a particular state or region suffers a severe storm that threatens the entire power grid, these regions can "borrow" electricity from neighboring grids that are not experiencing extreme weather 

There still will be a lot of power outages in a severe storm, but this sharing means not quite as many people lose power and not for as long a period of time. 

Because of the way state finances are set up, power costs soar astronomically as cold snaps arrive. It was so extreme last February that even people who had power shut off the lights and heat so as not to go bankrupt. 

This was extreme, In one Texas household NPR looked at, the January electric bill was $257.  The February bill was around $10,000.  No, I did not accidentally type any extra zeroes.

Some of the charges were subsequently sharply negotiated downward, despite resistance from some utilities.

Warnings continue that Texas will suffer the same fate as last year if another big cold snap arrives.

After a week of record high temperatures, winter finally did arrive in Texas over the New Year's holiday.  There were no real power consequences, as that cold snap was brief and not nearly as intense as the one last February. Since New Years Day, Texas has had bouts with relatively cold winter weather, but certainly nothing in the extreme category.  

Back to back winters with the intense cold experienced in February 2021 are unlikely in Texas, but weather extremes have gotten more common with climate change, so nothing is off the table.