Twitter communication during winter storm Uri in San Antonio, Texas - Implications for climate resiliency planning

Abstract

Winter Storm Uri hit Texas in February 2021, leaving millions of people without power. This winter storm and energy crisis provide an example of failed climate planning but present an opportunity to understand response and resiliency during climate change-related events in Texas. Comparing the impacts experienced by the public to communications of elected officials and utility providers could help us understand whether their responses were sufficient enough to address the needs of the communities during the disaster. We performed text content analyses on Twitter data collected from San Antonio's elected officials, utility providers, and the public during the pre- and post-disaster periods. The results demonstrate three major outcomes: 1) elected officials' Twitter activities spiked during the storm which focused on warnings, resources, and situation updates but not so much on recovery, 2) while the public discussed the storm concerning climate change, climate change was largely missing from the elected officials' and utility providers' tweets, and lastly 3) communications did not lead to sufficient action to prepare for future climate change-related crises.