This is a very good example of bad policy in the USA: in my whole life I encountered two power outtages. None in Germany (where I mainly lived ) , one in Poland and one in Ukraine (both 5 years ago).
Leaving nuclear power was a stupid decision but compare to Texas, this is miniscule.
Maybe some perspective helps, the hurricane would have given probably half of Germany hurricane force winds. Hurricanes cause power outages, I don't think I've ever heard about a hurricane anywhere that directly hit a populous area and didn't cause power loss.
Fact is, these storms are stupid powerful (even the "little" cat 1's) and big trees are heavy as fuck which is going to be the major cause of our outages.
I can get pictures of some of the 15+ meter trees with trunks over a meter wide that ended up completely uprooted and toppled over. It's impossible to just not build around these trees (best we can do is try to trim the ones around power infra but our area is just so dense it's impractical to keep them completely cut back everywhere) so it's just a fact of life that there will be power infrastructure damage during extreme weather.
Now the response speed definitely needs to be addressed but I cover that in my to level post so I won't rehash it here again.
Since this thread is full of bad decisions in Texas hurricanes is a lame excuse. (also nature isn't stable in both countries, flood are a huge problem now)
So I never needed an app to watch for power outtages. So correct the people. Do you claim there have been no outtages. Just during hurican season? Be precise
Leaving nuclear power was a stupid decision but compare to Texas, this is miniscule.