The AP’s Texas staff pushed through last week’s winter storm coverage with top-notch storytelling even as many suffered hardship of their own.
When deadly subfreezing temperatures, snow and ice smacked much of the southern U.S., it knocked out the power grid in Texas, the nation’s energy capital — and that was only the beginning. The bursting pipes, boil water advisories and accusations of price-gouging that followed would only exacerbate the suffering for millions left shivering while nearly 80 people died.
Customers use the light from a cell phone to shop in the meat section of a grocery store in Dallas, Feb. 16, 2021. Even though the store lost power, it srtayed open for cash-only sales.
AP Photo / LM Otero
City of Richardson worker Kaleb Love breaks up ice in a frozen fountain Tuesday, in Richardson, Texas, Feb. 16, 2021. Temperatures had dropped into the single digits.
AP Photo / LM Otero
People seeking shelter from sub-freezing temperatures gather in a makeshift warming center at Travis Park Methodist Church in San Antonio, Feb. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
Bethany Fischer washes her face as her husband Nic lies on a mattress while staying at a church warming center in Houston, Feb. 16, 2021. The couple had lost power at their home the previous day.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
People sit at a dining room table inside a Gallery Furniture store in Houston after the owner opened his business as a shelter for those without power, Feb. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
People with no power at their homes rest inside a Gallery Furniture store in Houston after the owner opened the business as a shelter, Feb. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
A man climbs out of a van as he is moved to a warming shelter at Travis Park Methodist Church to escape sub-freezing temperatures in San Antonio, Feb. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
Carlos Mandez waits in line to fill his propane tanks in Houston, Feb. 17, 2021. Customers had to wait more than an hour in the freezing rain to fill their tanks.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
AP reporters showed in spot and enterprise stories that everything came down to a failure of government, particularly in Texas and neighboring Deep South states where infrastructure breakdowns revealed how unprepared much of the nation is for extreme weather.
All this happened as many staffers in Texas suffered along with their neighbors, with no power, heat or water. But they got creative and kept up the effort for a fully multiformat report, writing stories on phones when WiFi didn’t work, calling in feeds or charging electronics at colleagues’ homes. One reporter relocated to the home of an AP retiree when her own power was knocked out.