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'Longest week of our lives': Texas food banks in crisis as storm disrupts supplies - The Guardian

'Longest week of our lives': Texas food banks in crisis as storm disrupts supplies - The Guardian

Feb 19, 2021 1 min, 23 secs

Food banks in Texas have gone into disaster mode as they ramp up operations to tackle a surge in hunger after unprecedented freezing conditions disrupted almost every part of the food supply chain in the state.

Grocery stores are empty, school meal programs suspended, and deliveries disrupted by untreated treacherous roads that have left millions of Texans trapped in precarious living conditions with dwindling food supplies.

In the worst-affected areas, food banks and pantries were forced to close for several days this week as it was impossible for staff and vehicles to get to the distribution sites.

On Thursday, the disruption to energy and safe water supplies had food banks scrambling to procure large quantities of bottled water and ready meals and snacks that do not require cooking.

When everything thaws, we’re preparing for a massive spike in demand,” said Valerie Hawthorne, director of government relations at the North Texas Food Bank, based in Dallas.

Before the big freeze, this food bank ran two drive-through food distribution sites every day, serving between 300 and 1,500 families at each pop-up location.

The extraordinary freeze has once again exposed existing deep inequalities that will make it much harder for low-income households to recover, according to Brian Greene, CEO of the Houston Food Bank.

Long lines extend outside grocery stores with empty shelves, and water supplies have been disrupted by boil advisories and burst pipes; electricity is needed for those in rural areas with private wells.

The disruption to food supplies in Texas shows how poorly prepared the US is to deal with the climate crisis, according to Molly Anderson, director of the food studies program at Middlebury College in Vermont

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