In February 2021, three winter storms hit the state of Texas from the 10th to the 20th. They caused widespread severe weather and some of the lowest temperatures seen in the state. These storms did a great deal of damage, becoming known as the worst energy infrastructure failure in the history of the state and leading to water, food, and heat shortages. On the one-year anniversary of these historic storms, let’s look at how they were able to cause such damage and what measures could have been taken to prevent it.

Winterizing and Insulation
Because Texas does not typically experience this kind of severe weather, many regions and communities were not prepared to handle it. Temperatures stayed below freezing for several days. This caused widespread freezing throughout the state. Nearly all infrastructure was affected, from gas flow to power plants, to frozen wind turbines, to power plant piping systems being under-insulated or simply not being insulated at all.

Most Texas homes rely on electricity to run their heating and hot water systems, which put even more strain on the already overworked electrical grid. The overload caused cascading power problems, leaving over 4.5 million homes and businesses without power, and nearly leading to the failure of the entire state power grid.

What could have been done differently?
• Designing building structures to be more energy efficient based on colder design parameters
• Better preparation for lower temperatures in residential, commercial, and industrial settings
• Proper winterization of natural gas infrastructure

Plumbing
Uninsulated pipes became one of the biggest headaches to come out of these storms. Persistent low temperatures coupled with loss of power and heat allowed uninsulated pipes to freeze, expand, and burst, doing thousands of dollars worth of water damage in homes and businesses. Damage from the storms and cold weather were estimated to be at least $195 billion, making it the most expensive disaster in the state’s history.

What could have been done differently?
• Uninsulated piping in residential areas caused thousands of dollars in damage, but could have been easily avoided by insulating these lines which on average would on cost a few hundred dollars
• Having backup power generation capability can allow heat tracing to be used to prevent pipes from freezing, stopping any potential bursting
• In the case of loss of electricity and heat, a homeowner can drain all lines to prevent any freezing and subsequent damage

Takeaways
Though the weather Texas experienced was historic and uncommon, it is likely that such a weather event will happen again at some point in the future. Insulating, heat tracing, and otherwise winterizing measures may seem unnecessary, but the damage done by these storms was deadly, extremely expensive, and catastrophic.

Specialty Products & Insulation carries several products that can help prevent these sorts of issues. We maintain substantial inventories of these various products throughout our nine Texas warehouses and 60+ warehouse facilities throughout North America.

Contact us today for more information on how you can protect your home or business from severe weather.

Sponsored by Kent Revard