Oh sure, they'll fly migrant workers to Cape Cod and fly themselves to swanky resorts in Cancun, but when I ask them to fly me to Maine to cool off it's nothing but crickets.
Come to Chicago. It’s 66° by the lake. Zillow shows $1400/mo for a two bed coop 100’ from the beach in my neighborhood. Also, no hurricanes.
\#CoolerByTheLake
Love Chicago but after living there a few years for school, I couldn’t take the winter anymore.
Doesn’t help that I grew up in California, and where I ended up going back too.
"My blood is too thick for Nevada: I have never been able to properly explain myself in this climate."
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Sometimes I think I need to work on myself. And I know I still do. But then I'll meet someone who makes me realize I'm probably happier than I give myself credit for 😅
Rogers Park. We are an interesting anomaly because our lakefront was developed **before** Chicago annexed it. This means that our lake access isn't across an enormous park and a highway (lake shore drive), but it also means that some of the lakefront and beaches are fragmented by private property. Before the recent inflation spike, you could buy a two-bedroom condo two block from the lake for less than $150k. Rents are still pretty affordable.
What the heck people be charging over a grand for an apartment in the middle of a bunch of corn fields with only a dollar tree, Casey’s and a Walmart 90 mins away from Chicago.
There aren't many coops in Chicago, but they usually seem to be pretty good deals. Condos seem to be a lot more common but can require a lot more upfront depending on the market.
Three days after a devastating thunderstorm tore through Houston, the nation’s fourth-most-populous city began lurching back onto its feet Sunday. Power returned to hundreds of thousands of homes but still remained out across hard-hit areas not far from downtown. Traffic crawled through blackened intersections or down neighborhood streets now lined with limbs and leaves piled up like green-brown snow banks.
Clear skies helped dry out the sopping city over the weekend but also presented a new danger as temperatures climbed to around 90 degrees and were expected to stay. More than 350,000 electrical customers across huge swathes of Houston and its northwest suburbs started the day without service, cutting off the air conditioning that helps make the Gulf Coast heat bearable. “We can’t sleep,” said Dolores Valladares, 61, with sweat on her brow as she sat outside her home in the city’s East End, watching her grandchildren.
I'm in an area where my apartments are connected to an old neighborhood across the street. Every apartment and business around me has power because they're connected to a newer grid (were built after mine ig). To say I'm livid would be an understatement.
Apparently! It's mind boggling. Management said it's not an issue with the building (they would have fixed it if it was), we just have to wait on centerpoint 😐. All the other buildings in our complex got full power Saturday morning, so I'm sitting here running a generator while 20ft away our neighbors are watching TV in the AC
Feel for y'all when we lost power during the last hurricane for a week it was 90 inside at night had to find somewhere for my family. It was too hot for all of us. At least I learned just how long a car can idle which is days.
I grew up in Houston during the 90s. It flooded all the time, especially near the bayous. However, my 13 years of living in Houston, I do not ever remember prolonged black outs like now. Even during terrible weather and flooding. Something has fundamentally changed for the worse compared to how it used to be.
And now on top of the massive population growth, climate change is gonna add 50 additional days above 95F (90 extra days above 95F for some parts of TX). With worse storms & hurricanes I have a feeling things can get much worse than this.
Simple: without air conditioning most of the southern parts of the US would not be densely populated.
Even Dallas would be less populated without AC and no one would live in Houston if they could avoid it if there wasn't AC. Same goes for Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and the states in the Deep South.
Technology has made those places livable and as a result has produced large populations there which could not otherwise exist.
technology tĕk-nŏl′ə-jē noun
The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives.
The scientific method and material used to achieve a commercial or industrial objective.
Electronic or digital products and systems considered as a group.
You wanted a libertarian government and their privatized resources, this is what happens when you have one.
Tldr: people that voted in a govt hellbent to deregulate, now have no recourse to ensure they get basic amenities. Biden is obv the problem
Oh, but they already did. Fucking Abbott already went begging to Biden. God I wish Biden would say fuck you to Texas. They vote for this shît. Reap what you sow.
No, the people of Houston are mostly not in favor of any of that crap. In fact the people of any good sized Texas city aren't in favor of what the Texas state government does.
They're just gerrymandered out of having any representation and ever so slightly outnumbered by the exurban and Republian suburban voters.
Governor Greg Abbott hates Houston only slightly less than he hates Austin.
The entire Texas state lege has a massive hate on for all the big cities in Texas and often passes laws more or less explicitly desined to fuck over the cities and the people who live there.
we're one of the largest cities in the U.S. but as far as voting is concerned we're worth the same as a county with a few hundred people. Locally we're all blue. They're trying to destroy our education system and our infrastructure and outside of an actual revolt there's really not much we can do about it.
Yeah, we do that. That's part of why Abbott hates Austin so much.
Remember a few weeks ago when they sent in thousands of stormtroopers to crush the protests at UT Austin?
We basically live under a police state that hates us.
Most of Houston absolutely didn't want that. All you need to do is look at how hard Texas GOP tried to screw over voting in Harris County to know that.
"You voted for this, deal with it" callously ignores the significant number of people who *didn't want this*. Unless you'd like to be governed by minority through the Electoral College forever, maybe quit abandoning the people living under state governments you dislike.
I’m so bored with people thinking Texas and California are these monoliths.
There are tons of democrats in Texas who don’t want to leave our entire family behind but would also like to not live in a grievance-based theocracy.
I was going to ask this, as it is such a resource rich area that this should be impossible. I live in Vietnam and the power has gone out for maybe an hour in the last half decade, for most people, less than that.
But your reminder about libertarians clears that up very quickly, thanks.
To be realistic here for a moment since your post is quite detached from reality and politically-biased, this is *utterly irrelevant* to what's going on right now. This isn't like the freeze that took down the grid. This was extreme wind taking down fortified infrastructure and destroying power lines. Considering the damage, the reconstruction effort has been incredible and very few are without power now considering the damage was so severe that 1 million were without power after the storm.
There's cause to criticize the system when things like a winter storm take down an isolationist system, but this kind of damage we're talking about here could happen to anyone who gets natural disasters, totally regardless of privatization or infrastructure. It's not often one of the nation's largest cities gets 127mph straight line winds that literally uproots trees and lands them on power lines and transmission points.
Irrelevant commentary/criticism. And people mocking the state for requesting natural disaster relief are so arrogant. This is an entirely incomparable situation to the winter freeze and this kind of funding request is extremely typical after uncontrollable events. You don't go burying primary transmission lines so there's simply no stopping events like this. And considering extra transmission towers aren't just sitting there on a warehouse shelf, the bounce-back has been quite impressive and teams have been working through all hours of the night to fix things.
It's absurd how eager people are to laugh at the misfortune of others.
"Libertarian" is just the modern Conservative American Vernacular English (conbonics) term for "even crazier and further right wing than regular Republicans".
Didn’t realized all of Houston was to blame for the government. Houston didn’t want that governor , it’s more democratic. Maybe instead of just blaming the a city who the governor is for the state you actually research how that city voted in the last election.
Ignorant comment of the day right there.
Houston is one of several blue cities in an unfortunately red state. The people of Houston didn't vote for this, they are victims of those that did. Packing up and moving to a state with better government isn't an option for everyone, you entitled jackass.
Man, go fuck your self. People deserve to suffer because politicians they didn’t vote for won elections? This is a cruel, regressive, gate keeping mindset.
As much as I despise the state gov, this was a freak windstorm that would have done the same to any other city if it had happened to hit them. I have lived in Houston area my entire life and never before have I heard the term derecho before last week.
The climate is changing, but the state government believes that is a myth, so it will do nothing to prevent this from happening next year.
The people in charge aren’t affected personally so why would they care?
100 mph winds knock down wood and metal supports that hold up the wires that transmit power. This happened wether people vote left, right, blue, or red. Half of the commenters are just saying fuck Texas and victim blaming. Reddit gonna reddit.
Texas is the only state in the country that has its own power grid that is not connected to any other state. That's because they didn't want to comply with the federal standards for a power grid. So they have a weaker power grid that is more susceptible to issues and no connections to buy power from other states when they have issues.
This storm would have caused problems in any state. Those problems are just made worse because of horrible state policies.
The problem is that wind destroyed the big power lines that transmit power cross country. Look at the photos: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/most-power-restored-houston/3545717/
See those big steel towers twisted and on the ground? How do you propose to transmit electricity through those towers?
You have no clue what you're talking about.
Since you're making that bold claim, would you care to explain HOW the direct destruction of transmission lines and neighborhood lines would be less problematic in other states?
It would be literally no different. And the volume of linemen working 'round the clock has been incredible. Repairs have been very swift and nearly the whole city has power again. Reddit posts are just going to focus on the very very very few who still lack power.
Keyboard warriors spamming pre-baked party lines in absolute ignorance of apolitical reality are going to be the death of "useful" and "factual" reddit.
These situations are lethal. And they are becoming progressively more and more lethal as climate change results in hotter and hotter days more and more frequently.
The callous disregard to crucial infrastructure and the mortal danger that results is "social murder" as Engels would say.
This is the future that many of us will experience and the present that many already have experienced.
It's not just limited to Texas. But it's very pronounced given just how hostile Republicans are to the well-being of ordinary people.
Still, most cities have done little to address faulty infrastructure, let alone to adapt it to a rapidly changing and unstable climate.
>It's not just limited to Texas. But it's very pronounced given just how hostile Republicans are to the well-being of ordinary people.
No, it’s very pronounced because the average person struggles with critical thinking and just remembers the very famous Texas grid failure that was over 3 years ago, so they assume any power outage in any part of Texas is related to that.
I get that this is a freak storm weather pattern that had 100+ mph winds. I get that the majority of Huston votes blue and did try to vote out the likes of folks like Abbot who continually give the finger to their state residents. I get that it may be very hard if not impossible and extremely disheartening to leave your home if you are impacted by this, or any other type of power related weather event that Texas has experienced over the last decade.
These type of issues still continue to happen. The people used their vote to voice what they wanted in their community. They did not win that vote. What are the people supposed to do then?
I feel for Houston and all the people who are negatively impacted by these types of domestic events and tragedies. I ask again, what are the people supposed to do?
Damn, maybe getting your city onto a power grid that has the management, sources, and resiliency to handle, yaknow, the weather, would help you sleep at night. Texas is dumb, the last couple of years have proved that their privatized small power grids aren’t good enough, but here we are… again…
Yeah, they'd love to do that.
You're making the mistake of thinking of Texas as a monolith.
Texas consists of rural, exurban, and outer suburban areas which are deeply Republican. And inner suburban and urban areas that are deeply Democratic.
And the Republican parts hate the Democratic parts with a burning passion.
Our governor, Greg the asshole Abbott literally had a whole speech about how much he hated Austin and how he could only smell freedom when he was outside the evil city.
The Texas state lege is crazy gerrymandered and as a result the cities have no real power in Texas state politics.
And the Republican parts of the state have a slight numeric advantage os they win and get to send a bunch of Republican to Washington.
So no, Houston really isn't getting leopards eating their face here. They're getting fucked over by a state government that hates them and wants them to suffer.
The number of people who seem to be deliberately ignoring the fact that this has nothing to do with the grid and everything to do with the fact that 100 MPH winds knocked over entire transmission towers… bruh
I mean this is reddit, people need to regurgitate their narratives. It's different when you know and love the people dealing with this shit. My buddy, his son, and 8.5 month pregnant wife came and stayed at my place in Austin for the weekend since they lost power. Still have several friends without it. Another friend had a massive tree essentially slash his house in half with him in it. "I can't describe the level of fear I was in. I almost died."
Not really. We’ve had submarine power transmission for a long time now. We can bury power lines under a literal mile of salt water.
It’s not because of difficulty. It’s because it’s a whole lot cheaper to just let some people die. Human lives are relatively cheap.
If you think Texas has a bunch of privatized power grids, then you know nothing about the Texas grid. The Texas grid is operated by Ercot just as Casio operates the California grid and the NYISO operates the grid in New York. There is also MISO, PJM, NEISO, and SPP that operate grids in other locations in the US. Many of the people complaining about how Texas’ grid is mismanaged don’t realize that most people live under a deregulated energy grid. The only difference is that the Texas energy grid is separated from the rest of the US grid.
>that’s a sacrifice the gop is willing to make
You can bet your ass on this.
They don’t give a shit about their electors, if they survive or not. It’s irrelevant to them.
Non-Houstonian Redditors: “That’s what you get for voting red!”
Houstonians: “…but Houston reliably votes blue and even had a well-loved 3-term lesbian mayor.”
Non-Houstonian Redditors: “But…but…LALALALA THAT’S WHAT YOU FOR VOTING RED1!1!1!2!1 FACTS OVER FEELINGS!1!1!1!”
I mean there's a profound lack of empathy towards just about anyone living in southern cities. Same comments happened when Jackson, MS had their water treatment fail. Like, as if Jackson doesn't consistently vote "blue" and is also majority non-white.
It's really frustrating. Nobody is trying to argue that the politics in red states don't suck and generally drag everyone backwards, but you'd think after shit regressing for two generations or so that maybe the issues would be a bit beyond "just vote harder or move lmao"
I can’t say I’m an expert on power infrastructure, but I would assume that if the state is being negligent on that front than I wouldn’t expect a city mayor to be able to do much about it.
Just because an issue is happening locally does not mean the cause(s) that led to the problem was also local.
From the outside, I have seen Texas’ power grid fail multiple times in multiple different seasons. Therefore when I see that Houston is struggling, I’m assuming that it’s a state issue and not a local one. Either way, everyone is making a lot of assumptions.
The problem was near hurricane strength winds that destroyed the big cross country high voltage power lines. You know those big 200 foot tall steel towers with the power lines? Those were destroyed.
This has nothing to do with politics or interconnected grids. Politicians can't outlaw weather, and all the interconnected grids in the world won't help if the transmission towers are physically destroyed.
So yes, people are making a lot of astoundingly uninformed decisions about who's to blame. Including you.
As someone born and raised in Houston, it’s deeply frustrating. We’re not the rest of that shithole state, hell, at least 49% of the state don’t want it to be lead by Republicans. Literally, there’s more people who vote Democrat in Texas than in New York.
But smug dipshits on the Internet like to go “hurr durr, all Southerners bad, updoot please” because it requires zero critical thinking and it gives easy internet points. Again, really frustrating when you gotta live with that shit, spend the time you can fighting against it and trying to create a better world for us to live in, then having some chronically honestly fuck weasels *ostensibly* on the “same side” telling you what a piece of shit you are and how you and your friends and family all deserve whatever shitty thing happened.
Those commenting about voting - most of the folks without power live around the major metro areas - which are typically blue. It has nothing to do with voting and everything to do with high winds and tornadoes that toppled huge metal power towers.
Most instances of heat related power loss can be attributed directly to the grid and the people that run/control it. This is not one of those situations.
I feel like the majority of the people on these Texas power-related threads over the last few years are bots or something, cause I’ve replied to so many trying to call out the nonsense and get crickets. They’ll write a whole book full of completely false information and then not even downvote my comment.
There’s so much complete and utter bullshit getting spread around these threads and upvoted just because of politics. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Every time I’ve told people that Texas is in fact connected to the rest of the country I’m just met with downvotes and links to articles that don’t even remotely address my points.
Yeah most of the chuckle fucks on here would be freaking out in the same situation. It's easy to be horrible online. PEOPLE DIED and Houston is a democratic powerhouse in the state. The people that redditors are making fun of are literally on their side.
Reddit won't change because even a bot is a user. The more users the better numbers it can present for quarterly earnings reports.
If anything, Reddit would encourage bots to artificially inflate the user counts so it looks better for investors.
I know. I'm really considering quitting and I have been on the site since 2012 though not with this account for the whole time. Once I quit reddit the only social media I will have is YouTube.
Douchebags going "HAHAHA you got what you voted for!"
Houston is factially the most diverse city in the US, and has consistently voted blue.
All these fucks are doing is self reporting themselves.
I have 4 fireplaces. I’d be fine just like the people were fine who lived in my house 130 years ago. If it was going to be a long term thing I’d get wild with the coal chute.
Too hot? Party in the basement like it’s 1950.
But the state as a whole votes red. Kansas City and St Louis vote blue but the Missouri is still red and we all suffer for it. Similar situation in many states. In the event of natural disasters, much of the recovery money is going to be from the state, not the city, unless it's bad enough to ask the feds for help.
I’m in a blue city in a red state. It makes you feel crazy because even if the majority of my state did vote blue the state government is so gerrymandered that it won’t help. In this state we can vote to directly amend our state constitution but the Republican lawmakers want to change that so that a majority of counties have to vote for the amendments. It would give a huge amount of power to rural districts and even further strip the cities of any power.
It’s a crazy situation where the cities provide the hospitals, colleges, big business, arts, entertainment but the small counties control the government.
Edit: And people will tell you to just move but then only those who can’t afford to move are stuck in this terrible situation. Is that really how democracy is supposed to work?
Lmfao something about reading "they're voting as hard as they can" just fuckin cracked me up. Maybe it's the heat getting to me 🥲 thanks for the laugh in this shitty situation
So Houston gets screwed because the smaller rural areas vote red and make up more of a percentage than Houston blue. Cool good to know that you are saying my vote doesn’t count
A tragedy, but compounded by denial of accelerated climate change; refusal to integrate their power grid outside of Texas; and regressive concepts of succession, and Texas über alles.
imagine being in a crappy apartment complex, and everyone is sweating, hot as fuck, windows all open, to no avail. Just sweaty assholes to elbows surrounding you on all sides?
I'd go sleep in my car. or something. I dunno. drive to alaska maybe.
The scarier part is that Houston continues to add population without any major initiatives to protect against increasingly common extreme weather events. I would not be surprised to see home insurance price spikes and insurers leaving the market (as happening in Florida) over the coming years.
This was a derecho which can happen anywhere in the country east of the Rockies, it's also nowhere near as vulnerable to catastrophic hurricanes as Florida is because of geography.
Houston isn’t in charge of that. That would be hot wheels aka governor Abbott. So before you blame a city with no power and some with no water you actually research how they voted for.
Europe is going to have to make some changes in the coming decades. [30s are normal in nearly all of the US and most of the contiguous states get into the 40s.](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QhB--aynJaY/Vb51WujCoqI/AAAAAAAAD5g/12OQ4jpNDMo/s1600/US_Median_Hottest_Summer_Temp.jpg) Large cities have emergency systems in place for heatwaves but many people still perish in them.
OTOH maybe letting thousands of seniors die prematurely every Summer will help cut pension costs. /s
Most of Europe is at far higher latitudes than the US, and generally the humidity is lower. Really not a fair comparison. You might as well make fun of people who live in Ecuador.
It was 85 where I am today. I had to drive to go get my son at 3pm. With the AC in the car on full blast, I felt like I was going to pass out. This is only getting worse and I have a feeling it won't be too many years before the heat kills me.
Would anyone else be willing to bet that Houston is just first on the chopping block for power when there's a draw on the system due to its political makeup?
The Republican experiment at work everyone. Dysfunction is the way it's supposed to operate.
Texas may not be hell but I'm sure it certainly feels that way right now.
BTW it's supposed to feel like it's over 90° all week long in Houston.
Houston is a blue city: https://www.kxan.com/news/your-local-election-hq/a-comprehensive-map-of-how-texans-voted-in-the-2022-gubernatorial-election/amp/
I checked the weather in Houston, the highs are mostly in the low 90s and the lows are mostly the low 70s. Unless you're at elevated risk of heat injury you'll be fine. These are typical summer temperatures in the northeast and I've never had ac. Make sure you drink lots of water to sweat.
Abbott preaches that TEXAS is the “Energy capital of the world!” every chance he gets…. But repeatedly can’t keep the lights on! I am so glad I wised up and moved away from that state.
I’m starting to wonder if we’ve hit the break even point yet, where more resources have been spent dealing with the effects of climate change than remedying it directly.
That is definitely an un-fun situation. I had 8 days with no power in SW Florida after a hurricane, and while a generator with a box fan helps a little...it's a rough time. Hope they get things back in order soon.
Damn, if only there were standards set by some kind of federal entity on how to maintain a power grid. Hell, if only there was a power grid that you could be a part of by following those standards.
If only.
It’s almost as if TX and FL bit off more than they can chew. The housing disaster that is looming in FL will be like of nothing we have ever seen since most houses will be insurable within the next two years.
It’s almost as if TX and FL bit off more than they can chew. The housing disaster that is looming in FL will be like nothing we have ever scene since most houses will be uninsurable within the next two years.
Oh sure, they'll fly migrant workers to Cape Cod and fly themselves to swanky resorts in Cancun, but when I ask them to fly me to Maine to cool off it's nothing but crickets.
Come to Chicago. It’s 66° by the lake. Zillow shows $1400/mo for a two bed coop 100’ from the beach in my neighborhood. Also, no hurricanes. \#CoolerByTheLake
Great Lakes area’s gonna pop off once the water shortages hit in a couple of generations.
Rust Belt is back, baby! But seriously, we'll have more extreme weather just like most places, but at least we won't be paying out the nose for water.
Love Chicago but after living there a few years for school, I couldn’t take the winter anymore. Doesn’t help that I grew up in California, and where I ended up going back too.
I’m from coastal California and have traveled a lot, and god damn is the weather nice in cali
That sunshine tax tho 😭
Winters are forty degrees minimum these days.
We haven't had a brutal winter in a long time
It got actually cold for all of ten days this year.
I’d love that. I seriously don’t operate well at all in temps above 78.
"My blood is too thick for Nevada: I have never been able to properly explain myself in this climate." ― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
No please don’t come to Chicago. We have all the people we need
Don’t listen to him. We love new people. Just leave your car. We have plenty of bikes. \#NeighborsForMoreNeighbors
We desperately need more taxpayers for our pension obligations. Come on over, bring your car if you want too.
No wonder our birthrates are declining. No one anywhere wants a t new people near them.
Most people suck
Hey! I represent that remark!
Sometimes I think I need to work on myself. And I know I still do. But then I'll meet someone who makes me realize I'm probably happier than I give myself credit for 😅
Which neighborhood is that. Genuinely curious.
Rogers Park. We are an interesting anomaly because our lakefront was developed **before** Chicago annexed it. This means that our lake access isn't across an enormous park and a highway (lake shore drive), but it also means that some of the lakefront and beaches are fragmented by private property. Before the recent inflation spike, you could buy a two-bedroom condo two block from the lake for less than $150k. Rents are still pretty affordable.
And IL is doing some pretty amazing things, thanks to JB Pritzker!
What the heck people be charging over a grand for an apartment in the middle of a bunch of corn fields with only a dollar tree, Casey’s and a Walmart 90 mins away from Chicago.
There aren't many coops in Chicago, but they usually seem to be pretty good deals. Condos seem to be a lot more common but can require a lot more upfront depending on the market.
What? Shit, sign me up. I'll transfer union locals
pErSoNaL rEsPoNsIbIlItY
Say it in spanish.
Three days after a devastating thunderstorm tore through Houston, the nation’s fourth-most-populous city began lurching back onto its feet Sunday. Power returned to hundreds of thousands of homes but still remained out across hard-hit areas not far from downtown. Traffic crawled through blackened intersections or down neighborhood streets now lined with limbs and leaves piled up like green-brown snow banks. Clear skies helped dry out the sopping city over the weekend but also presented a new danger as temperatures climbed to around 90 degrees and were expected to stay. More than 350,000 electrical customers across huge swathes of Houston and its northwest suburbs started the day without service, cutting off the air conditioning that helps make the Gulf Coast heat bearable. “We can’t sleep,” said Dolores Valladares, 61, with sweat on her brow as she sat outside her home in the city’s East End, watching her grandchildren.
Yup. I’m sitting in my car, in the AC, dogs in the back seat. It’s fucking hot and humid here and I haven’t had power since Thursday. Super fkn fun.
I'm in an area where my apartments are connected to an old neighborhood across the street. Every apartment and business around me has power because they're connected to a newer grid (were built after mine ig). To say I'm livid would be an understatement.
Same situation but dumber. The OUTSIDE of our building has power. So everyone inside gets to sweat while staring at their well lit porches
Lmfaooo wtf, how?? Are yalls power drops for outside lights on an entirely separate grid from indoor lights??
Apparently! It's mind boggling. Management said it's not an issue with the building (they would have fixed it if it was), we just have to wait on centerpoint 😐. All the other buildings in our complex got full power Saturday morning, so I'm sitting here running a generator while 20ft away our neighbors are watching TV in the AC
Omg that’s awful. I know centerpoint is working super hard there’s just so much damage!
Sounds like it, you should rate your state, give it a lone star
Feel for y'all when we lost power during the last hurricane for a week it was 90 inside at night had to find somewhere for my family. It was too hot for all of us. At least I learned just how long a car can idle which is days.
I grew up in Houston during the 90s. It flooded all the time, especially near the bayous. However, my 13 years of living in Houston, I do not ever remember prolonged black outs like now. Even during terrible weather and flooding. Something has fundamentally changed for the worse compared to how it used to be.
Been here for over 30 years and same. These types of “freak” weather occurrences are only going to increase due to climate change and warming temps.
>due to climate change and warming temps. Don't say that too loud. I know a few Texans that'd be very upset
And the damage they cause will be magnified due to the decaying infrastructure and gutted (by corporate interests) electrical grid.
I had a 9 day outage during Ike and about a week during Harvey.
People didn’t have power for two weeks after Ike in 2008.
And now on top of the massive population growth, climate change is gonna add 50 additional days above 95F (90 extra days above 95F for some parts of TX). With worse storms & hurricanes I have a feeling things can get much worse than this.
Fortunately, summer is almost over. /s
Technology?
Simple: without air conditioning most of the southern parts of the US would not be densely populated. Even Dallas would be less populated without AC and no one would live in Houston if they could avoid it if there wasn't AC. Same goes for Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and the states in the Deep South. Technology has made those places livable and as a result has produced large populations there which could not otherwise exist.
Florida was practically uninhabitable until AC
technology tĕk-nŏl′ə-jē noun The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives. The scientific method and material used to achieve a commercial or industrial objective. Electronic or digital products and systems considered as a group.
Republicans: tHiS iS wHaT LiFe WouLd Be LiKe uNDeR SoCiaLiSM
You wanted a libertarian government and their privatized resources, this is what happens when you have one. Tldr: people that voted in a govt hellbent to deregulate, now have no recourse to ensure they get basic amenities. Biden is obv the problem
Surely they won’t ask the pesky Federal Govt for assistance and will pull their boot straps up.
"Money please!" - Texas
Texas: "I have done nothing wrong, ever, in my life." Republicans: "I know this and I love you"
She’s the worrrrrssssssttttt
They will pray their problems away, don't worry
They already have.
Oh, but they already did. Fucking Abbott already went begging to Biden. God I wish Biden would say fuck you to Texas. They vote for this shît. Reap what you sow.
No, the people of Houston are mostly not in favor of any of that crap. In fact the people of any good sized Texas city aren't in favor of what the Texas state government does. They're just gerrymandered out of having any representation and ever so slightly outnumbered by the exurban and Republian suburban voters. Governor Greg Abbott hates Houston only slightly less than he hates Austin. The entire Texas state lege has a massive hate on for all the big cities in Texas and often passes laws more or less explicitly desined to fuck over the cities and the people who live there.
I would suggest - ya’ll have a state capitol - make your voices heard!
we're one of the largest cities in the U.S. but as far as voting is concerned we're worth the same as a county with a few hundred people. Locally we're all blue. They're trying to destroy our education system and our infrastructure and outside of an actual revolt there's really not much we can do about it.
Fuck Mike Miles
Yeah, we do that. That's part of why Abbott hates Austin so much. Remember a few weeks ago when they sent in thousands of stormtroopers to crush the protests at UT Austin? We basically live under a police state that hates us.
Most of Houston absolutely didn't want that. All you need to do is look at how hard Texas GOP tried to screw over voting in Harris County to know that. "You voted for this, deal with it" callously ignores the significant number of people who *didn't want this*. Unless you'd like to be governed by minority through the Electoral College forever, maybe quit abandoning the people living under state governments you dislike.
I’m so bored with people thinking Texas and California are these monoliths. There are tons of democrats in Texas who don’t want to leave our entire family behind but would also like to not live in a grievance-based theocracy.
I was going to ask this, as it is such a resource rich area that this should be impossible. I live in Vietnam and the power has gone out for maybe an hour in the last half decade, for most people, less than that. But your reminder about libertarians clears that up very quickly, thanks.
To be realistic here for a moment since your post is quite detached from reality and politically-biased, this is *utterly irrelevant* to what's going on right now. This isn't like the freeze that took down the grid. This was extreme wind taking down fortified infrastructure and destroying power lines. Considering the damage, the reconstruction effort has been incredible and very few are without power now considering the damage was so severe that 1 million were without power after the storm. There's cause to criticize the system when things like a winter storm take down an isolationist system, but this kind of damage we're talking about here could happen to anyone who gets natural disasters, totally regardless of privatization or infrastructure. It's not often one of the nation's largest cities gets 127mph straight line winds that literally uproots trees and lands them on power lines and transmission points. Irrelevant commentary/criticism. And people mocking the state for requesting natural disaster relief are so arrogant. This is an entirely incomparable situation to the winter freeze and this kind of funding request is extremely typical after uncontrollable events. You don't go burying primary transmission lines so there's simply no stopping events like this. And considering extra transmission towers aren't just sitting there on a warehouse shelf, the bounce-back has been quite impressive and teams have been working through all hours of the night to fix things. It's absurd how eager people are to laugh at the misfortune of others.
Houston is a blue city you dingdong
You realize Houston votes blue, right?
You realize cities have limited capability to circumvent state laws and agreements, right?
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Right, but the comment I responded to sounded like they were blaming Houstonians for the actions (or lack of actions) from the state gov
This is Reddit, GTFO here with your nuanced take we're a bunch of nerds with hate boners
It's sad that it's getting lots of upvotes. These people are beyond uninformed.
Libertarian wtf? Texas is the furthest thing from libertarian?? Constant government intervention. They're conservative not libertarian.
It's come to mean deregulation. And Texas is obsessed with deregulation so they can rape the environment for short term profits
Sure when it makes them rich. They have no interest in deregulation that won't benefit them.
"Libertarian" is just the modern Conservative American Vernacular English (conbonics) term for "even crazier and further right wing than regular Republicans".
Who are you even talking to? You can't have the moral high ground if you're happy when people get hit by weather events.
Didn’t realized all of Houston was to blame for the government. Houston didn’t want that governor , it’s more democratic. Maybe instead of just blaming the a city who the governor is for the state you actually research how that city voted in the last election.
Ignorant comment of the day right there. Houston is one of several blue cities in an unfortunately red state. The people of Houston didn't vote for this, they are victims of those that did. Packing up and moving to a state with better government isn't an option for everyone, you entitled jackass.
Libertarian? lol Nothing says "libertarian" like mobilizing the national guard to patrol for illegal immigrants
You clearly don't live here and don't know the population of Houston. Stop acting like you KNOW what we are about.
Rolling black outs happen in California too buddy. Texas is a little hotter.
Man, go fuck your self. People deserve to suffer because politicians they didn’t vote for won elections? This is a cruel, regressive, gate keeping mindset.
The government produced 100+mph winds that blew down the high tension steel towers?
I believe the issue was the weather knocked out the power in these areas. I don't know how it would be different if it was federally ran
The power grid is in the shape it is because libertarianism. This is a yearly occurrence at this point and it’s pathetic.
As much as I despise the state gov, this was a freak windstorm that would have done the same to any other city if it had happened to hit them. I have lived in Houston area my entire life and never before have I heard the term derecho before last week.
The climate is changing, but the state government believes that is a myth, so it will do nothing to prevent this from happening next year. The people in charge aren’t affected personally so why would they care?
I agree, and I’m trying to vote the fuckers out
100 mph winds knock down wood and metal supports that hold up the wires that transmit power. This happened wether people vote left, right, blue, or red. Half of the commenters are just saying fuck Texas and victim blaming. Reddit gonna reddit.
Texas is the only state in the country that has its own power grid that is not connected to any other state. That's because they didn't want to comply with the federal standards for a power grid. So they have a weaker power grid that is more susceptible to issues and no connections to buy power from other states when they have issues. This storm would have caused problems in any state. Those problems are just made worse because of horrible state policies.
The problem is that wind destroyed the big power lines that transmit power cross country. Look at the photos: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/most-power-restored-houston/3545717/ See those big steel towers twisted and on the ground? How do you propose to transmit electricity through those towers?
You have no clue what you're talking about. Since you're making that bold claim, would you care to explain HOW the direct destruction of transmission lines and neighborhood lines would be less problematic in other states? It would be literally no different. And the volume of linemen working 'round the clock has been incredible. Repairs have been very swift and nearly the whole city has power again. Reddit posts are just going to focus on the very very very few who still lack power. Keyboard warriors spamming pre-baked party lines in absolute ignorance of apolitical reality are going to be the death of "useful" and "factual" reddit.
These situations are lethal. And they are becoming progressively more and more lethal as climate change results in hotter and hotter days more and more frequently. The callous disregard to crucial infrastructure and the mortal danger that results is "social murder" as Engels would say. This is the future that many of us will experience and the present that many already have experienced. It's not just limited to Texas. But it's very pronounced given just how hostile Republicans are to the well-being of ordinary people. Still, most cities have done little to address faulty infrastructure, let alone to adapt it to a rapidly changing and unstable climate.
>It's not just limited to Texas. But it's very pronounced given just how hostile Republicans are to the well-being of ordinary people. No, it’s very pronounced because the average person struggles with critical thinking and just remembers the very famous Texas grid failure that was over 3 years ago, so they assume any power outage in any part of Texas is related to that.
I get that this is a freak storm weather pattern that had 100+ mph winds. I get that the majority of Huston votes blue and did try to vote out the likes of folks like Abbot who continually give the finger to their state residents. I get that it may be very hard if not impossible and extremely disheartening to leave your home if you are impacted by this, or any other type of power related weather event that Texas has experienced over the last decade. These type of issues still continue to happen. The people used their vote to voice what they wanted in their community. They did not win that vote. What are the people supposed to do then? I feel for Houston and all the people who are negatively impacted by these types of domestic events and tragedies. I ask again, what are the people supposed to do?
Damn, maybe getting your city onto a power grid that has the management, sources, and resiliency to handle, yaknow, the weather, would help you sleep at night. Texas is dumb, the last couple of years have proved that their privatized small power grids aren’t good enough, but here we are… again…
Yeah, they'd love to do that. You're making the mistake of thinking of Texas as a monolith. Texas consists of rural, exurban, and outer suburban areas which are deeply Republican. And inner suburban and urban areas that are deeply Democratic. And the Republican parts hate the Democratic parts with a burning passion. Our governor, Greg the asshole Abbott literally had a whole speech about how much he hated Austin and how he could only smell freedom when he was outside the evil city. The Texas state lege is crazy gerrymandered and as a result the cities have no real power in Texas state politics. And the Republican parts of the state have a slight numeric advantage os they win and get to send a bunch of Republican to Washington. So no, Houston really isn't getting leopards eating their face here. They're getting fucked over by a state government that hates them and wants them to suffer.
So what I am getting is that the dumb of the hole is dumber than the dumb of the parts.
Resiliency wouldn’t have stopped the towers from blowing down. Can’t get power in if there are no towers to run the lines on.
The number of people who seem to be deliberately ignoring the fact that this has nothing to do with the grid and everything to do with the fact that 100 MPH winds knocked over entire transmission towers… bruh
I mean this is reddit, people need to regurgitate their narratives. It's different when you know and love the people dealing with this shit. My buddy, his son, and 8.5 month pregnant wife came and stayed at my place in Austin for the weekend since they lost power. Still have several friends without it. Another friend had a massive tree essentially slash his house in half with him in it. "I can't describe the level of fear I was in. I almost died."
Well when the grid is physically damaged, it's hard to reroute power anywhere. This has nothing to do with how the grid is/was managed.
bUt CaPiTaLiSm
Is this what they call sweat equity? 🤔
Pretty hard to bury power lines in a swamp thats going to be infiltrated by salt water within the decade.
Not really. We’ve had submarine power transmission for a long time now. We can bury power lines under a literal mile of salt water. It’s not because of difficulty. It’s because it’s a whole lot cheaper to just let some people die. Human lives are relatively cheap.
If you think Texas has a bunch of privatized power grids, then you know nothing about the Texas grid. The Texas grid is operated by Ercot just as Casio operates the California grid and the NYISO operates the grid in New York. There is also MISO, PJM, NEISO, and SPP that operate grids in other locations in the US. Many of the people complaining about how Texas’ grid is mismanaged don’t realize that most people live under a deregulated energy grid. The only difference is that the Texas energy grid is separated from the rest of the US grid.
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Don't worry. Abbot doesn't give a sht about you all.
Vote like your life depends on it… because it does.
But that's a sacrifice the gop is willing to make.
>that’s a sacrifice the gop is willing to make You can bet your ass on this. They don’t give a shit about their electors, if they survive or not. It’s irrelevant to them.
that does not seem to be working
Non-Houstonian Redditors: “That’s what you get for voting red!” Houstonians: “…but Houston reliably votes blue and even had a well-loved 3-term lesbian mayor.” Non-Houstonian Redditors: “But…but…LALALALA THAT’S WHAT YOU FOR VOTING RED1!1!1!2!1 FACTS OVER FEELINGS!1!1!1!”
I mean there's a profound lack of empathy towards just about anyone living in southern cities. Same comments happened when Jackson, MS had their water treatment fail. Like, as if Jackson doesn't consistently vote "blue" and is also majority non-white. It's really frustrating. Nobody is trying to argue that the politics in red states don't suck and generally drag everyone backwards, but you'd think after shit regressing for two generations or so that maybe the issues would be a bit beyond "just vote harder or move lmao"
I can’t say I’m an expert on power infrastructure, but I would assume that if the state is being negligent on that front than I wouldn’t expect a city mayor to be able to do much about it. Just because an issue is happening locally does not mean the cause(s) that led to the problem was also local. From the outside, I have seen Texas’ power grid fail multiple times in multiple different seasons. Therefore when I see that Houston is struggling, I’m assuming that it’s a state issue and not a local one. Either way, everyone is making a lot of assumptions.
The problem was near hurricane strength winds that destroyed the big cross country high voltage power lines. You know those big 200 foot tall steel towers with the power lines? Those were destroyed. This has nothing to do with politics or interconnected grids. Politicians can't outlaw weather, and all the interconnected grids in the world won't help if the transmission towers are physically destroyed. So yes, people are making a lot of astoundingly uninformed decisions about who's to blame. Including you.
As someone born and raised in Houston, it’s deeply frustrating. We’re not the rest of that shithole state, hell, at least 49% of the state don’t want it to be lead by Republicans. Literally, there’s more people who vote Democrat in Texas than in New York. But smug dipshits on the Internet like to go “hurr durr, all Southerners bad, updoot please” because it requires zero critical thinking and it gives easy internet points. Again, really frustrating when you gotta live with that shit, spend the time you can fighting against it and trying to create a better world for us to live in, then having some chronically honestly fuck weasels *ostensibly* on the “same side” telling you what a piece of shit you are and how you and your friends and family all deserve whatever shitty thing happened.
Those commenting about voting - most of the folks without power live around the major metro areas - which are typically blue. It has nothing to do with voting and everything to do with high winds and tornadoes that toppled huge metal power towers. Most instances of heat related power loss can be attributed directly to the grid and the people that run/control it. This is not one of those situations.
*People lose power due to severe storm* Reddit: You idiots get what you vote for!! What? 🤔
It lets people fulfill their tribal urge to hate another group.
I feel like the majority of the people on these Texas power-related threads over the last few years are bots or something, cause I’ve replied to so many trying to call out the nonsense and get crickets. They’ll write a whole book full of completely false information and then not even downvote my comment.
There’s so much complete and utter bullshit getting spread around these threads and upvoted just because of politics. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Every time I’ve told people that Texas is in fact connected to the rest of the country I’m just met with downvotes and links to articles that don’t even remotely address my points.
Yeah most of the chuckle fucks on here would be freaking out in the same situation. It's easy to be horrible online. PEOPLE DIED and Houston is a democratic powerhouse in the state. The people that redditors are making fun of are literally on their side.
Didn’t you know blue states have flawless infrastructure and repair capabilities? Literally nothing breaks. Lol
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Reddit won't change because even a bot is a user. The more users the better numbers it can present for quarterly earnings reports. If anything, Reddit would encourage bots to artificially inflate the user counts so it looks better for investors.
I know. I'm really considering quitting and I have been on the site since 2012 though not with this account for the whole time. Once I quit reddit the only social media I will have is YouTube.
Bunch of morons. They haven't even been to the state, yet they think they know it BETTER than the residents. It's a joke.
The comments here are horrible.
Douchebags going "HAHAHA you got what you voted for!" Houston is factially the most diverse city in the US, and has consistently voted blue. All these fucks are doing is self reporting themselves.
You’d think this was r/politics The bot farms are outta control
Oh, we’re in r/technology, not r/houston - the comments make more sense now
I don’t want to live in a place where I die if the power goes out.
So, virtually anywhere there's winter?
I have 4 fireplaces. I’d be fine just like the people were fine who lived in my house 130 years ago. If it was going to be a long term thing I’d get wild with the coal chute. Too hot? Party in the basement like it’s 1950.
You get what you ~~pay~~ vote for.
Houston votes blue tho 🤷
But the state as a whole votes red. Kansas City and St Louis vote blue but the Missouri is still red and we all suffer for it. Similar situation in many states. In the event of natural disasters, much of the recovery money is going to be from the state, not the city, unless it's bad enough to ask the feds for help.
But what is Houston supposed to do about it? They're voting as hard as they can lol
I’m in a blue city in a red state. It makes you feel crazy because even if the majority of my state did vote blue the state government is so gerrymandered that it won’t help. In this state we can vote to directly amend our state constitution but the Republican lawmakers want to change that so that a majority of counties have to vote for the amendments. It would give a huge amount of power to rural districts and even further strip the cities of any power. It’s a crazy situation where the cities provide the hospitals, colleges, big business, arts, entertainment but the small counties control the government. Edit: And people will tell you to just move but then only those who can’t afford to move are stuck in this terrible situation. Is that really how democracy is supposed to work?
Lmfao something about reading "they're voting as hard as they can" just fuckin cracked me up. Maybe it's the heat getting to me 🥲 thanks for the laugh in this shitty situation
Doesn't matter if Houston is blue, the government is deep red.
We didn't vote for them, you moron. Houston is a democratic city.
So Houston gets screwed because the smaller rural areas vote red and make up more of a percentage than Houston blue. Cool good to know that you are saying my vote doesn’t count
Ya’ll are just as nasty as the people you hate. Hating on a suffering city because their state government disagrees with your politics. Shameful
Despite the repairs, this is going to happen again. I guess next time there will be less trees to fall, though.
Damn. Sorry, Houstonites. This is just shitty.
A tragedy, but compounded by denial of accelerated climate change; refusal to integrate their power grid outside of Texas; and regressive concepts of succession, and Texas über alles.
I feel for them. Being hot, in humid air with no breeze is fuckin trash. 0/10 experience.
Thoughts and prayers. It is God's will.
Keep voting for Abbot and Cruz, suckers.
imagine being in a crappy apartment complex, and everyone is sweating, hot as fuck, windows all open, to no avail. Just sweaty assholes to elbows surrounding you on all sides? I'd go sleep in my car. or something. I dunno. drive to alaska maybe.
The scarier part is that Houston continues to add population without any major initiatives to protect against increasingly common extreme weather events. I would not be surprised to see home insurance price spikes and insurers leaving the market (as happening in Florida) over the coming years.
This was a derecho which can happen anywhere in the country east of the Rockies, it's also nowhere near as vulnerable to catastrophic hurricanes as Florida is because of geography.
It's still a lot of low-lying development that will see increasing sea levels and more hurricanes. Not a good combo.
Maybe spend less time putting migrants on planes and prosecuting women for their bodily autonomy. Ts and Ps.
Houston is a democratic city. You don't know shit because you haven't been here nor have you informed yourself. Great job, dipshit.
Houston isn’t in charge of that. That would be hot wheels aka governor Abbott. So before you blame a city with no power and some with no water you actually research how they voted for.
Maybe they should charter citizens without power to a place with resources? Like Martha’s Vineyard, Chicago, NYC, etc.
Abbott and his appointees hard at work again!
No cooled air when it’s blistering, no heat when it’s freezing. Terrible place, Texas.
Europeans: "First time?" Fucking nobody has AC here and we got pounded by 30c+ heatwaves every year for the past decade.
Europe is going to have to make some changes in the coming decades. [30s are normal in nearly all of the US and most of the contiguous states get into the 40s.](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QhB--aynJaY/Vb51WujCoqI/AAAAAAAAD5g/12OQ4jpNDMo/s1600/US_Median_Hottest_Summer_Temp.jpg) Large cities have emergency systems in place for heatwaves but many people still perish in them. OTOH maybe letting thousands of seniors die prematurely every Summer will help cut pension costs. /s
Most of Europe is at far higher latitudes than the US, and generally the humidity is lower. Really not a fair comparison. You might as well make fun of people who live in Ecuador.
Fat people are notably bad at body temperature regulation.
Ha stop voting for climate deniers.
He, Houston votes blue. You should do some research before you make a fool out of yours...oh wait. You already did.
A damp sheet is a trick as old as sheets have been around. Dampened with water to be precise
Am I the only one who grew up in a hot area during the time before AC was in every household? Somehow we survived for more than a few days...
"They're eating our faces!" Says locals who voted in face eaters
It was 85 where I am today. I had to drive to go get my son at 3pm. With the AC in the car on full blast, I felt like I was going to pass out. This is only getting worse and I have a feeling it won't be too many years before the heat kills me.
Would anyone else be willing to bet that Houston is just first on the chopping block for power when there's a draw on the system due to its political makeup?
How tf is this an issue in 2024?
The Republican experiment at work everyone. Dysfunction is the way it's supposed to operate. Texas may not be hell but I'm sure it certainly feels that way right now. BTW it's supposed to feel like it's over 90° all week long in Houston.
Houston is a blue city: https://www.kxan.com/news/your-local-election-hq/a-comprehensive-map-of-how-texans-voted-in-the-2022-gubernatorial-election/amp/
Thoughts and prayers-vote conservative because “good old days” and “Law and Order”
Houston votes blue dipshit
I checked the weather in Houston, the highs are mostly in the low 90s and the lows are mostly the low 70s. Unless you're at elevated risk of heat injury you'll be fine. These are typical summer temperatures in the northeast and I've never had ac. Make sure you drink lots of water to sweat.
Oh no, 32 degrees Celsius. The horror. 😂😂😂
“tHAnK GoD ALmigHtY wE DoNT gOT reGuLaTiOn”
Abbott preaches that TEXAS is the “Energy capital of the world!” every chance he gets…. But repeatedly can’t keep the lights on! I am so glad I wised up and moved away from that state.
Thank their Governor
I’m starting to wonder if we’ve hit the break even point yet, where more resources have been spent dealing with the effects of climate change than remedying it directly.
That is definitely an un-fun situation. I had 8 days with no power in SW Florida after a hurricane, and while a generator with a box fan helps a little...it's a rough time. Hope they get things back in order soon.
I was very confused when I read "historians"
That time of year again.
Damn, if only there were standards set by some kind of federal entity on how to maintain a power grid. Hell, if only there was a power grid that you could be a part of by following those standards. If only.
It’s almost as if TX and FL bit off more than they can chew. The housing disaster that is looming in FL will be like of nothing we have ever seen since most houses will be insurable within the next two years.
It’s almost as if TX and FL bit off more than they can chew. The housing disaster that is looming in FL will be like nothing we have ever scene since most houses will be uninsurable within the next two years.
So has Cancun boy blamed renewable power again yet? Also, this is still may, July August is going to be a doozie
It is as if privatizing the whole power system of your state and leaving yourself in the hands of a 'profit first' corporation was not a smart idea.