Background
Recently an Ice Age-like storm consumed Texas and pushed itselectrical grid to the precipice. If not for the rapid reaction of energy operatorsto shut down these systems, Texans would have found themselves in a perilous MadMax landscape.
Despite this near miss, operationally Texas was transformedinto a temporary failed state leaving 14 million residents without safedrinking water whose source comes from 1,000 public water systems whilemillions more had no electricity. Shockingly with a bit of clever editing byeven rank video amateurs, one could swear the photos of suffering Texans were citizensin war-torn Syria.
Mother nature took down the grid more effectively than anyrogue or state sponsored hacker or terrorist. The destruction to infrastructurefar exceeded Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Sandy (2012) which were impactedmore harshly because they were coastal communities from ocean-borne storms.