By 5 a.m. Thursday, Oncor was reporting that around 30,000 customers across the state were without power. Most of those people were in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Later that afternoon, the number of people with power outages climbed to more than 70,000. but that number would fluctuate as linemen repaired damaged power lines across the state.
In a press release that morning, the company said: “Oncor employees are being supported by more than 1,700 mutual assistant personnel from 10 states. Freezing temperatures and hazardous road conditions are challenging crews, but work will continue 24-hours-a-day as long as weather conditions allow.”
But unlike last year, these outages aren’t the result of a grid failure, say Gov. Greg Abbott and local energy providers.
“We are dealing with one of the most significant icing events that we’ve had in the state in at least several decades,” Abbott said during a press conference Thursday. “The power grid is performing very well at this time.” Based on current electricity demand, Abbott said there is enough extra power to supply two million homes.
Oncor said its crews were working in freezing temperatures, through snow, sleet, rain and wind gusts of up to 30 mph. “These conditions have led to 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of ice accumulation in some areas and are posing the greatest impact to electric service,” the company said.
The ice build-up can increase the weight of tree branches by some 30 times, causing them to sag or break onto power lines.
Oncor said people who spot downed power lines should leave the area and call 911. Anything touching a power line, like a tree branch, could be electrified. They urged residents to not attempt to remove debris from lines on their own.“We are dealing with one of the most significant icing events that we’ve had in the state in at least several decades." – Gov. Greg Abbott
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Abbott said energy providers are bringing in extra resources to repair the downed and damaged power lines, and that the state is aiding them as well. "There are more than 10,000 linemen already working for power transmission companies to assist with power lines that are not working," Abbott said. "In addition to that, almost 2,000 more linemen are coming in from outside the state of Texas."
The governor issued a proclamation waving some regulations to allow the linemen and their repair trucks faster entry into Texas.
But Dallasites hit hard by Winter Storm Uri last year are having an easier time with Winter Storm Landon. Many people in West Dallas, for example, went days without power during the winter weather last year.
“Last year, the rolling outage went out and never came back up,” said Debbie Solis, a lifelong resident of West Dallas. “It was terrible.”
So far, though, Solis and her neighbors haven’t lost electricity. On Wednesday, she said people stocked up on food at the local food pantry. “Praise God we have power,” Solis said.
Last year, local attorney Mark Melton and others were running all over the city, taking people to warming shelters and delivering bottled water to those who were under boil advisories or had burst pipes. But Thursday afternoon, Melton said things had been fairly quiet. “No outages here,” he said. “And I haven’t seen any frantic asks for help yet.”
During Winter Storm Uri, residents in the little southern Dallas neighborhood Floral Farms were among the thousands who lost power for days. But Thursday, longtime Floral Farms resident Marsha Jackson said all the lights were still on.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins signed a disaster declaration last Wednesday in preparation for the icy roads predicted for the rest of the week. He said in a post on Twitter that they weren't expecting any black outs or grid issues, just the possibility of disruptions due to damaged power lines.
Late Thursday afternoon, there were still about 2,300 outages in Dallas County, with linemen working around the clock, according to Oncor. Jenkins said now that the snow has passed, they are working on clearing major roads. But he still said people should try to stay off the roads if possible.
