Snow days in Texas affected East alumni and current students attending Texas Christian University.

With temperatures below freezing, icy roadways and borderline blizzards throughout Texas, East alumnus currently attending Texas Christian University (TCU) were isolated for five days in February with little power or access to food.

On the evening of Feb. 15, snow flurries led to ice and cars buried in parking spots by snow in Texas as predictions for one of the worst winter storms in Texas rang true.

Students were unable to drive back to Kansas City as the major highways were closed due to an accident involving over 130 vehicles, according to Dallas News.

Classes were canceled the week of Feb. 15–19. and fresh food at grocery stores sold out, only leaving non-perishable items. According to East alum and TCU junior Tinka McCray, there was little time to prepare for the weather and she had no access to clothes she would typically wear in Kansas.

“I had to stock up on lots of canned soup, chips and frozen pizzas,” McCray said. “Those were really the only items that I could find at gas stations like 7/11”.

According to McCray, it was a struggle to get anything nutritious at any other grocery store, with mostly frozen foods being left available. All restaurants were closed. 

Temperatures fell to the lowest of about 20 degrees, and students struggled with snowed-in cars and slipping on the ice when trying to walk. Although many of the East Alums and students from the midwest were familiar with the icy roads, the conditions were unexpected to happen in Texas, leaving students scrambling to prepare. 

Fortunately, students like McCray had power and water. According to east alum andand TCU sophomore Jack Reeves, students stocked up on mainly breakfast and frozen food items before the snow hit. According to Reeves, being from KC, driving seemed like a breeze. 

“For a good three or four days I would say about 85% of the food locations were closed in Fort Worth, as well as the majority of our on-campus food options were closed,” Reeves said. “I did drive a decent amount given that I am used to driving in the snow. A lot of my pledge brothers from Texas didn’t drive at all that week.” 

According to Reeves, all of the dorm buildings have backup generators so none of the buildings on campus lost power. The only power outages that affected students were grocery stores and those who live off-campus.

Other students experienced similar situations as well — finding food for the students was the most difficult part of the four-day shut-down. 

“We had no food in the fraternity house and all the grocery stores closed,” Brummer said. “The same with on-campus dining. All the stores closed so there was no chance to stock up plus the grocery store had to throw away all the refrigerated goods when they lost power.”

Between the cancelled classes and inability to drive, students were able to sled, build snowman, and participate in snowball fights, with many snow events happening all throughout campus, according to Reeves.

“We struggled with getting our cars stuck and slipping on the ice in our driveway, McCray said. “But I spent my time hanging out with friends, going sledding, and enjoying the break from school.”