We are getting a first-hand account of what it was like to live in Texas last week as extreme cold weather hit that state which was something it was unprepared for.

Paul Giokas is from Regina and is now living with his family in Fort Worth.

He says, for people in Texas to deal with a windchill of minus 25 degrees Celsius, is equivalent to people in Saskatchewan living with a temperature in the 50’s.

He says the last week was not an easy one for him and many others. It was a week of either no power or no heat or no water, or a combination of those.

Giokas says, while he and his family were able to use a gas fireplace and gas stove for warmth, it was at one point, 3 degrees above freezing in his home.

At least 30 people have died as a result of the cold weather with some dying in their homes from hypothermia

[ckrm]