HOUSTON — An Arctic blast is expected to move into the Greater Houston area on Thursday and it's sparking flashbacks to 2021’s deadly February freeze.
Nearly a year after the state’s power grid failed and more than 200 deaths were linked to the national disaster, some Texans, like Eleanor Wilson, are still working to recover.
Every single pipe burst inside her north Houston home. A rebuild of her home, from the studs out, is still underway.
“Light fixtures looked like fishbowls. The ceiling fans were like this,” Wilson said as she extended her arms out before folding her wrists down.
After a months-long fight with her insurance company and supply delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson described the construction process as one that has, “really affected me, you know, mentally.”
The mother of four was able to gut her home in the weeks after the pipes busted but said construction didn’t begin until October. The project is so stressful, the English teacher said she had to take a year off from teaching just to orchestrate the overhaul.
“So yeah, I mean, I’m tense. Slightly freaking out,” Wilson said of the incoming weather threat. “I’ve been trying to mentally prepare myself for this new freeze. And I’m wondering, did they do anything different?”
Texas politicians are making their rounds to ease concerns and prepare Texans for the possibility of severe weather, “they focus so much on that political part, but you know, there’s that human part.”
Wilson is working with her contractors to make sure her new pipes are able to withstand freezing temperatures, should Houston get below 32 degrees.
“This happened to a real person, and I’m still dealing with it,” she said.
One year after navigating her flooded home with frozen toes and a broken heart, Eleanor Wilson is praying.
“I’m praying that it doesn’t happen again,” praying she will soon be back into the home she was forced out of last February.