The South Padre Island Great Storm of Feb. 2011

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Don't laugh ! Snow on South Padre Island, even a trace of snow, doesn't happen once in 10 years. So this was a big deal. The little triangle of snow on our balcony was about 1" deep.
We had a bad cold snap last Wednesday through Friday, the same days you in Michigan got a big dose of snow. We were actually at the bottom end of the same front that brought you the snow. The temp got down to about 27/28 two nights in a row. Thursday night it spit snow and freezing rain. The bridge that connects the island is 3 miles long and was a sheet of ice. The State put sand on the bridge, but they ultimately closed the bridge entirely about midnight. They re-opened it the next day at noon.
The municipal systems down here seem sort of fragile, and our power went down both nights, and the water pressure reduced dramatically on Thursday night. Nearly all the maintenance people who work on the island live on the mainland, so they could not get to work and make things right. Everything got corrected quickly once the bridge was opened.
Hard times in paradise.

Comments

Chris Turner said…
It's too easy and cliche' to lampoon the southern US on their lack of preparedness for cold and snowy weather, or their driving ability in snow, or closing bridges due to some ice. But the really surprising theme for me is the pipes bursting: is there no heat and/or insulation?
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 9:58:00 AM
Bil & Kay Turner said…
I don't think there is much, if any, insulation in our building. It's a poured concrete building. Our apt. is over the parking garage, which is unheated. Our tile on concrete floors were VERY cold during the cold snap.

Winter isn't much of a problem here, but I don't know why there isn't more insulation against the summer heat. My suspicion is that it's something that they have ignored until perhaps 20 years ago as energy prices began to escalate. Maybe the newer buildings are built better.

The TV was full of tips about how to insulate your outdoor taps so they wouldn't freeze.

After the fact, there was news of a town 50 miles inland where there were so many burst buried pipes, that the whole town was essentially without water for a couple of days.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 10:10:00 PM
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