Hindsight is always biased, and I don’t blame the people who are poor and can’t afford supplemental heat of any kind.
After seeing so many people without power during ice storms, I have decided to get myself better prepared for the upcoming winter season later this year. The first and most important part is having an evacuation plan and route in place if temperatures get close to zero and the power manages to go out. This was always part of my preparations in the past, but this year I purchased a wood stove to keep me warm if I lose power. I still have an evacuation plan for serious emergencies, but most of my winter preparations this year involve chopping and storing firewood. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in Texas this year who didn’t have a plan in place if temperatures hit record lows and the power grid goes offline like it did. Some people left to stay at family members’ houses, but others were stuck in their homes with no power, heat, or running water. There aren’t nearly as many people in Texas with backup heat sources as there are in northern states. Some could have at least bought storm generators for these kinds of emergencies, but those aren’t cheap. Hindsight is always biased, and I don’t blame the people who are poor and can’t afford supplemental heat of any kind. That’s in part why I got a wood stove after years of praying that my storm generator would be enough in an emergency situation. Now I have ample firewood every year in case the worst ever happens. I will even give some to my neighbor if I have a surplus, which might be the case this year. I went crazy with the preparations after close calls last year.