As more of more and this comes out, it is amazing that anywhere in the USA could really have this happen. The regional Texas special power grid is an utter failure. They had no ability to get help from other grids due to their Texas is center of the world approach. Both renewables and standard power generation failed. Relying on renewables for power with a razor thing power/demand ratio is not intelligent, and they figured it out the hard way. How in the world can power generation facilities not be able to produce in the cold? It is amazing that from the point of gas supply to the power generation facilities there were massive failures due to no winterization. They have had this issue before and were warned that more needed to be done. What is the saying, your lack of planning does not make an emergency on my end? I have empathy for the end customers as they paid the price (and some outrageous prices due to the FUBAR TX power system). But I have no sympathy for the producers. We just went through -30 temps and highs not above zero and there weren't any power issues here. Anyone know the cost of power here vs. there? If they're getting by without the winter ready generation equipment (cost was stated as a factor why they don't), they better be paying less than we do.
To touch on the plumbing, from what I've read a huge percentage of the water line issues are due to attic mounted water heaters. I've never been there to see, but it sounds like the large majority of the slabs are done this way. Add in poor water line routing at entrance as Allen stated and a 16" bury depth and the cold has caused a mess. My bet is there will be significant code changes after this episode. But, for the stuff built this way it can and will happen again. There is little worse than water damage to deal with in a home, especially in a warm/humid climate....mold will be coming soon.