Yeah, we're gonna need a little luck!
I just read that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) stated, "Electricity supply should keep up with the expected surge in demand." They also stated, "Changes to Texas’ power grid have improved [our] ability to keep power flowing during extreme weather, but in an extreme scenario, the grid could still face rolling blackouts or tight conditions."
Doesn't really instill a lot of confidence, does it?.
Last time we were totally unprepared, so we had to improvise. We started by melting snow by the fireplace to flush toilets. Cell phone service was knocked out, but I happened to have a battery operated radio with some charge left to get emergency weather reports. Eventually, I dug my truck out of the snow and I made my way over to my shop to tow a 20kW generator home. Luckily that little generator was full of fuel. I hooked it into my home's system and we were set. (FYI, I have no clue how to drive in the snow, but the computer on my 4X4 Tundra surely does!)
We still didn't have any water, so we continued to use melted snow to flush the toilets. For potable water we gathered every container we had and I made my way over to my business partner's house who lives near a hospital. He had water and electricity! Was able to share some of that water with my neighbor, too. Later, my business partner's water went off, so I was able to share back some of the water I got from him a few days earlier. Our water was back by then.
Even though this arctic blast won't have any snow and won't be as severe or cold as the last one, we won't be caught unprepared. I'm gonna have the generator ready to go (with an extra 20 hrs of fuel on standby). We're also gonna fill one of our bathtubs with water (for toilet flushing). I have extra wood already stacked up for the fireplace, extra bottled water and the pantry is stocked full.
With a little luck, we won't need any of that stuff!
