Fury in Texas as Power Outages Appear to Skip Over Wealthy Neighborhoods

At a time in which the nation is keenly focused on the issue of wealth inequality and how it is perceived, an ugly scene is playing out in Texas.

A massive winter weather event has smothered the Lone Star State with trouble.  Texas isn’t built to handle these sort of brutal changes in temperature, and power companies around the state banked on the ability to conduct rolling blackouts to ease the strain on the system.

They failed miserably, however, and just about fried the power grid in the process.  Overnight on Tuesday, many Texans were crossing into their 24th consecutive hour without power, with temperatures plummeting to the single digits.

Then, as social media users charged up and took a look around, they noticed something that infuriated them.

Here’s a look at the city skyline tonight, with many of the surrounding homes and businesses in the dark. pic.twitter.com/W5N2hfH02v

— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) February 16, 2021

Users were quick to ask why the city would be using so much power, especially in vacant office buildings and the like.

Even worse:  One affluent Dallas neighborhood never lost power, while all of the middle class neighborhoods surrounding it were in the dark.

I hope someone opens a class action lawsuit against the TX government and these power companies. It is insulting and dangerous that the Dallas skyline stayed lit along with these wealthy neighborhoods like Highland Park while the rest of us have been freezing for almost 24hrs.

— Connor Dillon (@_Aquatooth_) February 16, 2021

Pretty interesting that Highland Park, one of the top ten wealthiest communities in the country, seems to be unaffected by the outages. As are other wealthy areas around White Rock Lake.

I assume this isn't random. pic.twitter.com/nWaZxXYadg

— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) February 15, 2021

In case you’ve been out of power for a long time in 12F weather, here’s something that will make your blood boil. Ask @ERCOT_ISO and @oncor why Highland Park 91% WHITE NON HISPANIC, $210k AVG INCOME has little to no power outage reports. See pic below. #DallasWeather pic.twitter.com/926RgrHoUW

— Kraken Powell (@SidneePowell) February 16, 2021

Driving on Mockingbird Street from Dallas through Highland Park and I'm noticing that almost every house seems to be lit up as well as the massive shopping center in Highland Park and the massive Country Club. pic.twitter.com/yFoMuSMlr2

— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) February 16, 2021

In a nation that has been poised on the verge of a class war for years, this sort of disparity in comfort is only likely to fuel the flames of angst.