This article was produced through the NPR NextGen/Texas Observer Print Scholars program, a new collaboration designed to offer mentorship and hands-on training to student journalists and recent graduates interested in a career in investigative journalism.
Four months after Winter Storm Uri, Carolina Lopez-Herrera is still putting her house back together. She is one of millions of Texans who lost power and water for days during the record-breaking freeze this February. As the frigid cold set in, her tiny cat, which she and her sister had rescued from a dumpster weeks earlier, stopped moving. Pipes and the water heater burst, causing damages costing more than $50,000. In the aftermath, she’s had to remove walls, replace the water heater, and gut the cabinets and floors. Lopez-Herrera, a 20-year-old paralegal and student at the University of Houston, has been struggling with getting reimbursements from her insurance company and keeping track of the contractors still working on the house. The disruption caused her 18-year-old sister, Susana, to move to California to stay with their father while the house is being repaired.
This spring, frustrated with how her life was turned upside down by the power outage, Lopez-Herrera testified at the Texas Capitol about her experience in support of an energy efficiency bill. She urged lawmakers to implement energy efficiency programs so that homes do not lose power in the event of future storms. The bill did not make it out of committee.
