Stephanie Hollman is one of millions of Texans whose home was affected by this week’s brutal winter storm.
The Real Housewives of Dallas The star lives in Dallas with her husband, Travis Hollman, and their two sons, Cruz and Chance. She spoke exclusively with ET on Thursday about how she and her family have been handling the state’s extreme temperatures, power outages and more.
“We got our energy back last night so we can finally stay home,” Hollman revealed. “We had no power for three days and our kitchen sink was frozen. We are very lucky because we have a fireplace and we were able to use it downstairs to keep ourselves a little warm, but it has been crazy here.”
“Many people are still without electricity and without electricity, and the situation is much worse,” he continued. “I think the elderly and children are the most vulnerable, and people really need to be careful. In the news you see all these people trying to keep warm and keep their children warm, who are dying of carbon monoxide. poisoning. It’s so, so sad and so unnecessary, to be completely honest. “
CBS News reported Wednesday that nearly 3 million homes were without power in Texas, which is the only state that has its own power grid not regulated by the federal government. Many residents, past and present, have spoken out about the state’s failure in weatherproof power generating facilities, raising awareness of how ill-prepared Texas was for a climate emergency of this caliber.
“I never knew this was a problem, and we don’t have a generator because I never thought we would need one,” Hollman admitted. “It’s scary how unprepared we were and I’m still not 100 percent sure what happened. It’s scary that people are literally dying trying to stay warm and freezing to death. It feels very unnecessary and really sad that we don’t feel Prepared. We hear certain areas have power and people who haven’t had it for four days. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. “
“Every piece of advice I’ve received is from a fan. They’ve told me what to do and how to keep warm.” “And great ideas, like using pool noodles around the outdoor water feature to keep them insulated and breaking the ice in our pool to make sure it doesn’t freeze. I really had no idea, but we have so many people living in indica where it snows a lot and they are alone [more] prepared.”
The Real Housewives of Dallas airs Tuesdays at 9 pm ET / PT on Bravo. To learn more about how you can help Texas residents in need, follow these helpful links, curated by CBS News, below:
- Donate to a mutual aid fund, such as Mutual aid Houston, Austin mutual aid, or Feed the people of Dallas. All three groups are working to provide housing, food and other support systems to those in need.
- Donate to a food bank in Texas. Feeding Texas has a comprehensive list of food banks across the state, searchable by zip code.
- Donate to national organizations, such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross in North texas, Central and South Texas, and the Gulf Coast Region from Texas.
- Donate or volunteer with disaster relief organizations such as Crowdsource rescue, which has been activated to help Texans.
- Help animals in need by donating to organizations like Austin Pets Alive!, Texas SPCA, Y Operation Goodness. Be aware that some facilities, such as Operation Kindness in North Texas, may be affected by power outages.
- Support local journalists in their response to the crisis and spread the word donate to GoFundMe for the Austin American-Statesman, the Dallas Morning News, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- Do you live in or near Texas? Participate in AirBnB “Open Homes” Program either by opening your free space to those in need or by donating. NoirBnB offers a similar service, asking users to open their homes if they can. You can reach NoirBnB by email at [email protected]rbnb.com.
- Conserve energy if you are in Texas following this handy guide of the Austin American-Statesman.
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