The wife called: Power just went out. It's a trend: When I checked Oncor's outage-info website 10 minutes ago, close to 39,000 folks in Dallas were sans juice; that number has since jumped to 41,722, with another 12,680 outta luck in Fort Worth. Here's the latest map. Oncor says: That's the way wind blow. Because it's 1912.
"It's due to very high sustained winds and much higher wind gusts," says Megan Wright, Oncor spokesperson. "We had 30,000 at 4 p.m., and it's going up. The wind slows our crews working to restore power, and as soon as the wind subsides, which we hear will be tonight, they'll move much more quickly. The big problem we've seen today is trees hitting the power lines. And we have problems with homeowners not wanting us to trim trees. That's been the biggest problem today."
And, yes: Even if you have a "smart meter," do call in your outage at 1-888-313-4777. "Just to be on the safe side," Wright reminds.