Austin's 'third worst storm': Power restoration efforts continue in Central Texas

AUSTIN (KXAN) — After Wednesday’s storms, power companies in Central Texas continue to work to restore power in some areas.

At the height of the storm, Austin Energy said it had more than 72,000 customers without power.

At 9:45 a.m. Friday, Austin Energy’s map showed 337 active outages, affecting more than 19,000 customers.

“Looking at our outage history data in our system, which goes back to 2012, this event is the third worst storm we have had in Austin Energy,” said Stuart Riley, Austin Energy’s interim general manager.

“Because the damage is so substantial, outages and restoration activities are still expected to extend for multiple days,” Riley continued. “There is currently no estimated time of restoration for outages related to the storm.”

The utility said it would continue to work to restore power.

“All available crews are working on the system. Austin Energy thanks customers for their patience,” Riley said.

Austin Energy told KXAN a neighborhood in far east Austin had a large number of outages Thursday afternoon. In that neighborhood, there was widespread damage to power lines from falling trees. 

Tonisha Williams, a breast cancer survivor, said she felt like she was in the middle of a tornado during the Wednesday night storm. 

“It was very intense,” Williams said. “I was up all night. Then, of course, at 1 a.m., ‘Oh, we have light,’ and all of a sudden, no light.”

A large oak tree fell on a power line in front of her house. As of Thursday afternoon, she still had no power.

“I have a lymphedema machine that I have to use for my arm because I’m a breast cancer survivor,” Williams said. “I haven’t been able to use my pump for my machine. I now have not used it for two days, of course, because we have no power. That’s one reason why I gotta pack up and go to my grandparents’ house.”

As a reminder, AE said never touch a downed power line.

“Stay at least 35 feet away from downed lines and never use an object to move a downed wire. Never touch anything or anyone in contact with a power line. When a live wire touches the ground, electricity fans out throughout the area,” AE said.

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative also dealt with two major outages initially impacting more than 800 customers.

Austin Energy’s phased approach

Riley said the company takes a phased approach to restorations. It starts with critical life safety and public safety facilities.

“Getting power back on to hospitals, emergency call centers, critical communications equipment,” Riley said.

Phase two prioritizes outages affecting the largest number of customers. Phase three focuses on remaining smaller outages.

“These are often more complex and more time-consuming, which can take hours to complete those types of outages and restore only one or two customers at a time,” Riley said.

Austin Energy called for help from neighboring utilities. Two hundred mutual aid crews will be deployed in the field.

“Anytime you have an incident of this magnitude, mutual aid is very common. [As] Austin Energy, [it] would take us a very long time if we didn’t have these crews that came in to help,” Austin Energy Director of Support Services Craig Brooks said.

‘Hoping we get a quick fix’

Austin Energy customer Michael Phillips is among those without power. He said it went out as soon as it started hailing.

“It really sounded like people were just constantly throwing rocks at every window all at the same time,” Phillips said. “Fifteen seconds trying to cover our cars, and both of us were drenched, head to toe. We both have bruises from the hail.”

A tree in his backyard was uprooted by the storm and fell on a power line. With no estimated time of restoration, Phillips hopes it won’t be much longer.

“Really hoping we get a quick fix, because it’s starting to get hot,” Phillips said.

On Friday, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the Austin Public Library branches and Austin Parks and Recreation Department facilities will act as cooling centers for those without power.

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