Household Adaptations to and Impacts from Electric Power and Water Outages in the Texas 2021 Winter Storm

In February 2021, a winter storm brought snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, which caused severe interruptions in the electric power and water supply systems in Texas and surrounding areas. In this paper, we use survey data to investigate the ways that households adapted and reacted to those outages. The analysis aimed to determine (1) how common different household adaptations were, (2) how adaptations varied with outage and household characteristics, (3) how adaptations tended to occur together, (4) how unhappy households were as a result, (5) how household unhappiness varied with outage and household characteristics, and (6) what concerns influenced the unhappiness level. Results are compared with findings from a study that used an almost identical survey instrument but was based on a larger data set from Los Angeles. Findings from both studies suggest that almost everyone implemented at least one adaptation; most implemented several. They also agreed the most common adaptations were using candles, a flashlight, and/or a lantern; charging the cell phone in the car; purchasing bottled water; and delaying or reducing consumption. Both studies indicate that households experienced varied levels of unhappiness, which were similar for electric power and water interruptions. The reported levels of unhappiness were notably higher in Texas than Los Angeles, however, possibly because the outages had relatively long durations and were recent. Financial, time/effort, health, and stress concerns all were found to have a substantial influence on the extent of unhappiness, in both the Texas and Los Angeles analyses, suggesting that it is critical to consider all of them. Analysis of the Texas study introduced the new finding that repeated service outages during an event is associated with both increased adaptation implementation and greater unhappiness. Analyzing larger data sets from additional events in different locations would be helpful to further understanding of household experiences in service outages.

Several practical applications emerge from this work. First, by knowing how people are likely to adapt, officials can better prepare to support their constituents during a crisis. Anticipating the distribution of unhappiness could point infrastructure operators to consider other measures for service quality besides downtime alone, as important as that is. Knowing the differential effects of outages on different populations can improve officials’ understanding of social vulnerabilities in their communities, which is needed for planning, education, and outreach. Electric and water outages accompany many kinds of hazard events; the extent to which a local population can adapt, and how officials and infrastructure operators can enhance those adaptations, will be important elements of local community resilience.