Millions of Texans were without power – freezing, even dying, in homes with no heat. How did it happen in a state that's considered the power capital of the world?
From the first day of the February storm, NBC 5 Investigates has questioned officials, requested thousands of pages of documents, and traveled across the state, and even the country, searching for answers to how the crisis happened.
Now, in the series "Powerless," our reporting reveals why Texans received no clear warning that widespread power outages were on the way or that people could be without electricity for days.
In the videos below, we expose the power plants and companies that left Texas in the dark twice, not only in February but also in a previous winter storm in 2011. We travel to a harsh winter climate to see what Texas could do to make its power grid, and even wind power, more reliable. And we press state officials about whether their plans to fix the problems will really prevent another electric crisis in the future.
Ongoing episodes of the series below will be added as our team continues to pursue the truth about this Texas tragedy that cost more than 150 lives and resulted in an estimated $100-200 billion in damage.
View the full series now in a number of ways:
- Scroll down this page to watch all four episodes below.
- Watch on your Roku device: add the NBC DFW channel to your collection, open the channel and select the Powerless playlist.
- Watch on your Apple TV device: download the NBC DFW app to your collection, open the app and select the Powerless playlist.
- Watch on your Fire TV device: download the NBC DFW app from the Amazon Appstore, open the app on your Fire TV and select the Powerless playlist.
