In times of crisis, coordination and communication are crucial. Central Texans discovered the importance of both last week as an unprecedented winter storm paralyzed the area with snow, ice and subfreezing temperatures. The combination of record cold and icy roads shut down schools, closed businesses and made routine travel virtually impossible. The historic cold spell also strained the stateâs power grid, resulting in blackouts that cut electricity to nearly 20,000 Killeen homes â and as of Friday afternoon, at least 6,000 homes in Killeen, Harker Heights and Copperas Cove were still not back online. As if the cold wasnât bad enough, thousands of Killeen residents were without water last week as frozen pipes burst. Widespread leaks across the area both taxed the cityâs water supply and resulted in a mandatory water-boil order that remained in effect Saturday in several area cities.