The city of Austin is grappling with persistent power outages as residents face the aftermath of severe weather conditions, according to reports from CBS Austin and FOX 7 Austin. On Friday morning, as storms complicated restoration efforts, there were still around 14,750 customers without electricity. This follows an initial blackout causing 72,500 outages after Wednesday's violent storms, marked by winds reaching 77 mph and hail the size of golf balls. While power has been restored to some, the road to full recovery appears arduous, with new complications arising from additional storms.
After crews labored through the night, succeeding in restoring power to approximately 60% of the stricken customers, Austin Energy was challenged again with new outages triggered by lightning as morning storms swept the area. Matt Mitchell, Public Information Officer at Austin Energy, said in a statement obtained by CBS Austin, “Then the storm rolled through, and we have a few more we need to attend to today," noting that outages had dipped below 10,000 prior to the fresh wave of storms.
Customers, burdened by the dark and the uncertainty, have grown increasingly frustrated, as local resident Carlene Wegmann-Todd told FOX 7 Austin, "We have dogs and animals and stuff. So that is inconvenient, but we've had our power go out a lot." Expressing further discontent, she added that when calling Austin Energy, she and neighbors were sometimes told that their service had been restored when, in fact, it had not. Similarly, Mitchell admitted, “None of this is happening as quickly as any of us would like it to. It's a tremendous challenge because it's across our entire service territory and as you can see every situation is a little bit different." To report outages, customers are instructed to text "Outage" to 287846, visit outagemap.austinenergy.com, or call 512-322-9100.
In response to the crisis, mutual aid from nearby utilities was sought, summoning over 200 crew members from CenterPoint Energy and Oncor to aid in the power restoration and tree trimming operations; this information was shared on Austin Energy's website and later reported by CBS Austin. To those still without power, Mitchell conveyed his gratitude for their patience, saying, "Thank you for your patience. We know it’s more than just an inconvenience when you don’t have power.” Despite the adverse weather conditions and the ongoing restoration challenges, Austin Energy is determined to make significant progress with restoration efforts, supported by mutual aid partners working around the clock.
