If there has been anything more surprising about how awful the situation in Texas got following a serious winter storm and cold snap, it's how much worse it all could have been.
It's hard to imagine when seeing pictures of shelters swamped with water from broken pipes, icicles hanging from ceilings indoors, and an apartment block burning down because firefighters had no water pressure to fight the blaze with, but as the Texas Tribune reported, the power outages came within minutes of becoming a "monthslong" ordeal.
And it all would have been even worse had Texans not come together to help each other out.