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For the small-town perspective in Texas: some people in Marfa are going on 54 hours of no power, which for many people means no heat as well. If you live in a trailer or mobile home, there is absolutely not enough insulation for you to make it through a night in single digits.
A power outage this long means the one grocery store in town had to throw out all of their perishable food — they donated what they could to the local restaurants that could cook it, and those people have been serving up meals.
No electricity means no credit cards to pay for food, so cash only, but also the one ATM in town is down so you can't get more cash. Restaurants are offering the cheapest prices they can afford, or pay-what-you-can.
No electricity also means the gas stations can't operate, which means many people can't drive themselves to the next town over to pick up food and water.
The school cafeteria has been converted into a warming center for people, and the church is offering free coffee. I see friends on IG using a camp stove to warm up their houses, trying to stay mindful of carbon monoxide.
Now, the good thing about a small town is at least everyone has each other's backs. The town's facebook group is a mutual aid message board, and people are running errands for each other to pick up food, water, and gas.
To everyone joking about Texas — please understand that this power outage has a much bigger impact than people being chilly for a few hours. Low-income folks are hit the hardest; same as it ever was with disaster response in this country.
