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AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 1 in 10 Austin Energy customers were without power at the peak of outages following last month’s microburst that blew through northern and central parts of Austin.
Data from Austin Energy shows a peak of 72,506 customers were without power at 7:56 p.m. on May 28. That’s approximately 12.8% of all customers. We’re now getting a detailed look at just how quickly outages spread and how long it took crews to restore power to thousands of people.
The National Weather Service said the “long track microburst” brought maximum sustained winds up to 85 mph, damaging trees and power lines along its path.
Outages began to spike around 6:45 p.m. By 7:02 p.m., more than 65,000 customers were without power, and by 7:56 p.m., 72,506 customers were in the dark.
The number of customers affected consistently dropped below 50,000 around 1 a.m. Power restoration efforts continued over the next several days, complicated by further rain and storms on May 30, which caused the number of customers in the dark to increase again, from fewer than 7,000 around 4:30 a.m. to almost 20,000 just after 9 a.m.
By 2 p.m., the number had consistently fallen below 10,000. It took until almost 11 p.m. on May 31 for the total to drop below 1,000.
Austin Energy said power was restored to 100% of customers who could safely receive it at 12:39 a.m. on June 2, about 4 days and 6 hours after the storm began.
Data shows more than 163,000 outages were reported between 4 p.m. on May 28 and 12:39 a.m. on June 2, affecting more than 124,000 of Austin Energy’s roughly 566,000 customers in total.
‘Third-worst storm in history’
The utility said the microburst was the third-worst storm in the utility’s history in terms of customers affected, with data available back to 2012. When looking at damage to utility infrastructure alone, Austin Energy considers May’s storm the second-worst in history, behind only the 2021 winter storm that blanketed Texas in ice and snow.
In total, 91 power poles and 52 transformers had to be replaced after the microburst, while more than 32,000 feet of overhead cable was restored.
“Austin Energy would like to thank the greater Austin community for its patience, consideration and solidarity with our line crews and mutual aid providers,” the utility said in a statement. “Crews worked as quickly and safely as possible, overcoming complex issues, including using a helicopter to repair a transmission line, restoring power around a federally protected hawk’s nest, and repairing a downtown substation due to falling pieces of a downtown skyscraper.”
Learning from the past
Following the February 2023 ice storm, in which some power outages lasted for 10 days, Austin Energy completed an after-action report to identify ways it could respond more effectively in future extreme weather events.
“The restoration and recovery efforts from the May microburst effectively utilized those findings,” the utility said.
This time, Austin Energy said it used an improved Incident Management Team structure to more effectively communicate and coordinate its response. Enhanced capacity was added to the utility’s online power outage map, and more than 25,000 outage-related inquiries were fielded in the wake of the microburst.
Austin Energy also said its used its phased “Restoration 1-2-3” process to help the public understand how the utility prioritized restoration efforts. Phase 1 included restoring power to critical public safety facilities, such as hospitals and emergency call centers.
Phase 2 prioritized outages that affected the largest number of customers, and in Phase 3, crews responded to the 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,” Austin Energy Interim General Manager Stuart Riley said in a press conference the day after the storm.
The utility also used enhanced coordination with mutual aid partners — utility companies from outside Austin that came in to help with restoration efforts — including using pre-drafted contracts with those partners. More than 250 mutual aid crews responded after the microburst.
“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.