I don't know where this guy lives in Texas, but the temperatures that we saw during this storm was well below the winter temperatures that we normally get.
He lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and I can also confirm the rarity of such events.
Although I think it is unfortunate for all those many people who had pipes burst, the typical method for handling this is similar to what Ian described above. I don't know why this guy didn't think of this, but many people were caught with the same problem.
I would have probably done the same if I had left my house, but during the power outage we still had gas+water and the roads were still in pretty bad shape for driving, thus shutting off the water was not an option. Fortunately power was restored the next day (30h total), otherwise we would have left just like David.
During the -15°C night, where temps inside the house reached 2°C, we had some of the upstairs pipes frozen despite leaving the faucets dripping - no burst pipes, fortunately. Many in my neighbourhood did the same and had burst pipes. Not much else people could do, especially given the driving conditions were still very poor.
However, all I see is criticism and hate in the comments, not a bit of empathy. I don't understand this attitude. Perhaps someone could explain. Many people suffered during this extremely rare occurrence, blaming their ignorance is hardly justified.
Well, it is easy to throw rocks in scenarios thst are common in other places. Coming from Brazil, we could never understand how so many people died in those "heat waves" in Europe, until you learn the specificities of the place. A Dallas Texan, used to 40+ days of 40°C+ temperatures Every. Single. Summer would be equally baffled.
EDIT: One of the many problems in an ice storm where the infrastructure is not designed to handle is the roads. Many of our interstate highways have bridges and overpasses that will gather black ice and this cripples commerce. This is one of the reasons that grocery stores are empty. As the wreck in FW/Dal shows, it is disastrous to get out on the road during an ice storm in Texas, as rare as they are.
This is a true problem that is severely compounded by the lack of equipment to deal with that (snow plows and salt road trucks are not common), lack of appropriate tires, as well as training/experience to drive in such conditions (apart from the idiots that think it is the same as a heavy rain). I had to learn by practice, but I can't claim any proficiency.
Well that's kind of irrelevant since we're discussing an event in Texas which is an area that is full of typical US houses.
That is true, but I really dislike the way houses are built here... Styrofoam, cardboard and lollipop sticks seem to be the norm.