Not only did the recent winter storm bring below-zero temperatures to town, but it also brought shortages of food and water in many local stores. With the forecast looking increasingly dire, many people decided to stock up on food and water ahead of time because they worried that they may not be able to travel on icy roads and because water pipes would freeze and break. Items like milk, eggs, water and snacks quickly went from shelves. 

“We went to the store on Saturday before everything hit, and we filled up our cart with everything we thought we would need for several days,” senior Kaline Martinez said. “Unfortunately, things got way worse and lasted way longer than anybody thought.”

Once the storm hit, households without four-wheel-drive vehicles were largely out of luck. It was soon impossible to get out for some people, and necessities were soon in short supply, with Facebook flooded with posts searching for propane, gas and water. 

“We live out of town so we really couldn’t go to stores to get groceries,” junior Madison Walker said. “The roads were way too dangerous and we didn’t want to risk it.”

Families that had stocked up were able to ride out the storm without risking travel on the icy roads.

“I am very thankful that we had enough food and water throughout the week,” junior Jazlynn Early said. “We had enough supplies so we didn’t have to go into town.”

By Wednesday, however, many families had been without electricity for days and a power outage that affected the pumps on the city water tower meant that the entire town was without water.

“We lost electricity and water at the same time,” teacher Melonie Menefee said. “We were lucky; we have two gas heaters and a gas stove, so I could melt snow and ice to flush the toilets and we didn’t get as cold as a lot of people did, but I could still see my breath. It wasn’t much fun, that’s for sure.”

City Hall and the lower junior high opened to provide warming stations, but there were plenty of people who could not get there. And even once the water came back on, complete with a boil water order in place, many families had broken pipes and could not turn theirs back on until they could make repairs. Places like City Hall and the Leon County Expo Center soon provided water for those in need. 

“We were starting to run out of water bottles and all the stores didn’t have any, so we went to city hall,” sophomore Wendy Espinosa said. “I’m really glad and thankful that they gave water out during the storm.”

As things slowly thawed out, it was still days before many families had electricity back, and a supply shortage for those trying to make pipe repairs, as well as overbooked plumbers, meant nothing was quite back to normal. The school wrapped water fountains and provided bottled water for students and teachers. It took much of the next week for families to have electricity to be restored and the boil water notice to be lifted.