As Texas settled into a deadly-serious Polar Vortex, you could predict the pattern emerging based on your own past experiences with bitter-cold sustained weather conditions: No-heat calls inundating your emergency calls; heating systems not able to keep up with demand; heating systems stressed to the breaking-point; followed by frozen water lines, water services and water mains; and then biblical flooding and damage once thawing temperatures arrived.
There’s a major difference between the Northeast — where I’m located — and Texan home construction. Here, most homes have basements and plumbing enjoys a larger measure of protection from freezing. In Texas, and many other areas of the U.S., plumbing — especially water lines — are either at grade or buried just a few inches below grade in crawl spaces or in the attic — often above the insulation and, therefore, exposed to ambient air temperatures.