Thread by @BuzzFeedNews

The Texas snowstorm saw millions of people without water, heat, or electricity. But for many people living in colonias in South Texas, it was how they always lived due to existing government neglect.

buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfo…

For Nohemí, a mother of seven, the snowstorm was a race to keep her 16-year-old daughter who has achalasia — a condition that closes off the esophagus from the stomach and requires a machine to get food into her body — alive.

Many who live in the colonias were part of the wave of immigration that took place in the 90s and 00s and for years, most, if not all, lacked sewer systems, electricity, sidewalks, and paved roads.

And though most now have access to public infrastructure, connecting to water and power supplies is too expensive for some residents.

Texas, home to most of the country’s colonias, has largely left the communities to fend for themselves, declining to do things such as develop public utilities, or provide the government services locals have called for

“We’re always forgotten.”

buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfo…