A pastor arrived just in time to save a Dallas woman from possible hypothermia who fell asleep in her freezing home.
Carol Uberbacher, a business owner at Beaux Bangles, gathered piles of blankets and bundled up in three layers of clothes as the temperature in her Dallas home dropped.
She created a temporary bed in her living room and burned pieces of cardboard in her fireplace as a substitute for firewood to hopefully get her through the freezing cold.
But by Tuesday morning, the temperature dropped even more, making the cold unbearable, Dallas News wrote.
Uberbacher was one of the 4 million Texans who lost power this week as the state's electrical grid failed due to the sudden snowstorms.
People are taking refuge in their cars, buses, hotels, and churches as the winter storm continues to devastate homes in Texas, cutting off electricity and water.
"It was terrifying," Uberbacher, 76, said Friday morning. "But I know I was one of the fortunate ones."
When her friends were not able to contact her by phone Tuesday morning, they discussed their options so they could check up on her.
"It felt like this was happening on another planet, rather than a few miles away," said MarySue Foster, a longtime friend of Uberbacker who lives in Plano. "We felt helpless."
Driving up to Uberbacher's home would be too difficult because a lot of roads are still unpassable, so they decided to work the phones.
Thankfully, Pastor Bobbyray Williams was working on his Sunday sermon at Living Word Missionary Baptist Church, just a tenth of a mile from Uberbacher's home on Shelburne drive in Riverway Estates/Bruton Terrace, near the border of Mesquite.
Pastor Williams was supposed to stay home Tuesday. His typical 30-minute commute from his home in Waxahachie to the church took more than an hour as he inched forward on snow and ice.
Instead, he was at his desk before 10 in the morning to answer a frantic call from Foster, who at that time, was trying to find someone to check on her friend before the police arrived.
"I was so happy I practically screamed in his ear," Foster said.
Pastor Williams quickly grabbed his winter coat and headed down to Uberbacher's home.
When he arrived at Uberbacher's, he knocked and rang the bell several times, but no one answered. He then heard two dogs barking, so he didn't give up.
After a few minutes of knocking, a confused and disoriented Uberbacher answered the door.
"I'm quite surprised I woke up," she said. "He was truly my guardian angel."
Uberbacher has been in and out of sleep all night, which she thinks shows the early stages of hypothermia. The power has been out for about 24 hours that time, although she does not recall the temperature inside her house.
"I was very much in my head and in my spirit, thinking about my life and all of the things left undone," Uberbacher said. "It was very scary, but it was also a time to take a reckoning for myself."
"This is what I do," Pastor Williams said. "Our church is here to serve the community."
Williams then took Uberbacher's phone to charge it at his church, where police soon arrived to take her to their cruiser to warm up.
"Oh, this is warmth," Uberbacher remembered thinking. "This is what heat feels like."
Uberbacher and her dogs stayed with a friend who lives in Oak Cliff for a few days before returning home Thursday evening. A few hours after her power returned.
"It's good to be home," Uberbacher said. "I've watched the news, and I know this could have very well ended differently for me."
She said she plans to volunteer at Williams' church as soon as possible.
