No power, no water: Former North Jersey track stars battling severe, wintry weather in Texas

Three North Jersey track stars are among the millions of Texas residents that are being tested by the severe weather that has swept the state for the last week, leaving more than 30 dead and millions without power and water, according to the Associated Press.

Isabel and Monica Hebner, former Northern Highlands distance stars, now run at the University of Texas in Austin, while former Cresskill jumper Maryam Hassan is a graduate student at Rice University in Houston, using her last season of eligibility after graduating from Columbia University last spring.

"It feels like we're back in Allendale in the winter,'' Monica Hebner said in a recent phone call with The Record and NorthJersey.com. "But they have no way of handling this like we do.''

"There are no plows, no salt, nobody even has a shovel,'' she says. "It melts a little during the day and then refreezes every night and there are very few people on the roads. The houses just aren't prepared for this.''

Both the Hebners and Hassan have been without power since early Monday morning, although the biggest challenges now revolve around the water supply.

"I went to stay with friends of my family after the power and water went out in my building,'' said Hassan. "They live about four miles away and it was a treacherous trip getting there. Then their power and water went out.''

But Hassan was able to get to a hospital where one of her host family works to charge her phone, do some of her schoolwork online with her computer and mercifully, get a shower when the Rice athletic facility was open briefly.

"We have enough food, but it was wonderful to be able to take a shower,'' said Hassan, who is in a two year Masters Degree program in Global Affairs at Rice, and is expected to be one of their best jumpers this spring.  "We got water and power back at where I'm staying this (Thursday) morning and we're hoping it stays on line. We just have to keep boiling water until the city says it's OK to drink it.''

Houston's temperature had dropped to as low as 16 degrees earlier in the week (with a minus-1 wind chill) and by Thursday had crept back up to 37. Normal temperatures in Houston this time of year are a high of 67 and a low of 44. 

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While things seem to be improving in Houston, the situation in Austin, the state capital, remains dire. 

"Isabel had power and water so I went over there Monday,'' said Monica Hebner. "Our brother Tom also goes to UT, and he and his girl friend lost power and water too, so they came over as well. Then last (Wednesday) night Isabel lost power and water, too.''

"We're only about a block from campus, so we're able to eat in the dining hall and not have to get on line to buy food,'' said Monica Hebner. "The lines are miles long. We went out earlier to get cases of water that the University was distributing and we slid down a hill in our Jeep. It's awful out there.''

Austin expects temperatures to go into the low 20s later Thursday after a day of more snow, but it's supposed to get to 56 degrees by Sunday and into the 70s in the middle of next week. 

Both schools have been on mostly remote learning, but even that is shut down this week because of the weather and a failed Wi-Fi system. It's made getting updated information difficult to get.

"They don't do winter well down here,'' said Hassan, who has recovered from a mild bout of COVID-19 in December, before she went to Rice. "But this is really bad.''

Paul Schwartz covers high school track and field for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: schwartzp@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @northnjtrack