Over the past few days, there has been an undercurrent of anger in Texas that not everyone was suffering in quite the same way.

There were millions of people who were without electricity, or water, or both.

Many ended up in shelters, sleeping on the floors of friends and relatives, or trying to find a hotel room at a time when room rates were going through the ceiling.

I’ve visited communities over the past few days that have faced the sort of chaotic challenges they could barely have imagined, with a brutal cocktail of freezing temperatures, empty shops and no power.

They’ve had no water for days and have said that when it returned, it was only safe to drink after being boiled.

Now, burst pipes seem epidemic in a state where homes are built with heat, not cold, in mind.

But in the heart of Texan cities, the lights have stayed on.

When I arrived in Dallas, the skyscrapers were lit up like Christmas trees while the suburbs were dark.

It felt like a cruel contrast between the corporate world and the rest of society – a symbol of how, sometimes, we’re not all in it together.

And into this maelstrom has walked Ted Cruz.

Mr Cruz is the confident senator for Texas, articulate and ambitious enough to have run for the Republican nomination in 2016, when he lost out to Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, with his state paralysed by Arctic weather and the failure of much of its infrastructure, Mr Cruz found himself in the same boat as many Texans – cold, miserable and mired at home.

Then his daughters suggested that, instead of sticking it out, they should take a family trip to the sun and heat of a Mexican beach resort.

Mr Cruz agreed.

And so, on Wednesday, with Texas in crisis, the Texan senator boarded a plane to Cancun.

Less than 24 hours later, he returned, having cut short his own break in the wake of a torrent of criticism.

“Look, it was obviously a mistake, and in hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it,” said Mr Cruz, having swapped his holiday T-shirt for a puffer jacket more suitable to the freezing temperature.

“I was trying to be a dad. And all of us have made decisions.

“When you’ve got two girls who have been cold for two days and haven’t had heat or power, and they’re saying, ‘Hey, look, we don’t have school, why don’t we go, let’s get out of here’ – I think there are a lot of parents that’d be like ‘All right, if I can do this, great’.

“Really, from the moment I sat on the plane, I began second guessing that decision and saying, ‘Look, I know why we’re doing this, but I’ve also got responsibilities’.

“It had been my intention to be able to work remotely, to be on the phone, to be on the internet, to be on Zoom, to be engaged.

“But I needed to be here. And that’s why I came back.”

Mr Cruz’s problem is that it is extremely hard to find anyone who thinks it could ever have been a smart move for a senator to act like this.

His Democrat opponents have, predictably, called for his resignation, knowing that they won’t get it.

But around the state there is a sense of bewilderment about what he did.

We went to Plano, a city of about 300,000 people near Dallas, and dropped in on Grace Church, where water was being given out to residents whose supply still hasn’t come back on.

When I asked people about Mr Cruz’s actions, nobody actually stuck up for him.

Some simply shrugged; others talked about disappointment with leadership from various people.

But most seemed angry – almost contemptuous – that he could have gone away at a time of crisis.

“He should be here with us, digging in,” said one.

Another told me that she was angry because “we’d all like a vacation right now”.

A third derided him for setting such a poor example.

Mr Cruz’s supporters might point out that it is the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, who is leading the response and that the role of senator brings a different, nationwide, canvas.

But, as Mr Cruz’s own apology makes clear, that might work for some arguments, but it probably doesn’t work when your state – the second biggest behind Alaska – is dealing with the sort of crisis that comes around once in a generation.

The bottom line is that he knows he got this wrong, and has done the smart thing – come home, admitted his error and shown some contrition.

Warm weather is on the way and, by the middle of next week, temperatures here will be back into the mid-20s Celsius.

The ice will have gone, the burst pipes will be getting repaired.

The question is how much damage will have been done to the reputation, and standing, of one of America’s most high-profile Republicans.

Mr Cruz is probably pondering another run at the White House – he can’t afford too many mistakes like this.

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