Winter weather causes multiple types of outages, not just electrical

WACO, TX — Ice and temperatures like what we're seeing in Central Texas don't just affect the electricity. It also affects every corner of our lives.

Several cities had water outages due to burst water lines or problems at the plant.

Like a lot of Texans, Terri Westmoreland wonders how long she'll have to do without.

”Don't know for how long. We don't know if it's a couple hours. We don't know if it's days, if it's weeks. It's almost like 2015 all over again. We will gauge without having water and no one to really help us,” said the Marlin woman..

In Groesbeck, no doubt some people felt the same.

”We ended up with a broken water line that affected one neighborhood. You know the broken water line in the reference, they're slowly getting that back together,” said Chris Henson, Groesbeck Police Chief & City Manager.

The key word there is slowly. Why? Take a look outside. Repair crews have to deal with the same icy conditions we all do. Few, if any, companies plan to offer completion times on repairs.

When electricity goes out, traffic lights go out. Then again, many routes have likely shut down due to the weather.

"We're Texans. We're not used to driving. Two inches of water on the road, that's where we're experienced and driving. This is not what we do," explained "Rowdy" Hayden, Pct. 4 Constable of Montgomery County.

Police and fire use these roads too. Many get stuck just like we do, according to an Austin EMS manager.

”Our medics are doing the very best job and will respond to every single person who needs help," they said.

Another outage is the internet. Many of those lines run above ground along with power lines. They face the same vulnerabilities, with outages a common occurrence.

”The frustration for myself is really more than I can say. I think something needs to be done about it and it needs to be done about it now,” said Westmoreland.

Remember, this kind of thing isn't supposed to happen in Central Texas. We have no snow plow or any other magic wand we can use on our problem. What we need is patience while Mother Nature does the heavy lifting in her own time.