Things are surreal here in Texas right now. From Dallas to San Antonio, century-old low temperature records were shattered almost every day this week. The state is blanketed in snow and ice, and the power grid has failed. What began Sunday morning as an exciting novelty — six inches of snow in Central Texas — has devolved over the week into something more sinister. Four million Texans are now without power, many of them unable to drive on roads covered in ice and made impassable by snowfall. There have been massive pile-ups on the interstates and highways, many of them fatal. Food is running low for some people, and lines outside grocery stores stretch into the hundreds. One friend told me more than 1,000 people were lined up outside a grocery store here in Austin. Cities and towns across the state have issued notices to boil water, citing decreased pressure in their water systems mostly due to pipes freezing and bursting. On Wednesday night, all of Austin went under a boil water notice after the city’s main water treatment plant lost power. Some people I know have lost water entirely and, not knowing when they might get it back, have begun melting snow in their bathtubs. Families with newborns have gone days without power. Pipes have burst in nursing homes, flooding them in the middle of the night in near-zero temperatures. Hotels that still have power are booking up as people abandon darkened neighborhoods. Those of us trapped in our homes are texting and calling friends, families, and neighbors: Do you have power? Water? Food?