As Texas braces for its first major winter storm since the state’s power grid was overwhelmed last February, residents have been left wondering whether they should prepare for blackouts—or worse—in light of last year’s disaster.
One Texas resident, 41-year-old Demon Flock, told the Dallas Morning News that he was stocking up on canned food and bottled water after losing power for more than a week last year.
“It’s true that we all have post-traumatic stress and anxiety of what could happen, but this time we’re trying to prepare,” Flock said. “I’m worried that it could last many days because I’m not working right now and I live day by day, saving and selling things, and if I don’t have a job I won’t be able to buy food.”
Austin Mayor Steve Adler told KVUE on Wednesday that he’s “hoping that the state grid holds because that was really the significant problem last time.”
“But we’ve been going out and taking tree limbs off of the overhangs over power lines and doing hundreds and hundreds of those—still have not gotten them all done,” Adler said. “But a lot more than what we had before, and that was one of the chief problems we have. The tree limbs ice up and they fall and then they break lines."
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has already backpedaled on a promise that there wouldn’t be blackouts in the state as a winter storm rolls in.
“No one can guarantee that there won’t be a ‘load-shed event’ but what we will work and strive to achieve and what we’re prepared to achieve is that the power is going to stay on across the entire state,” Abbott told reporters during a news conference on Tuesday.
Load-shedding left millions in the dark and without heat over President’s Day weekend last year, when the Lone Star State’s independent power grid was overwhelmed by soaring demand amid freezing temperatures and inclement weather that damaged power lines. The devastating power outages resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people, according to a Dec. 31 report from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Abbott’s cautious comments on Tuesday were a departure from a pledge against blackouts that he has repeated in recent months.
Last June, Abbott signed new laws to bolster the state’s power grid, the Texas Tribune reported. He touted the grid in comments on KTBC in November, saying: “I can guarantee the lights will stay on.”
He made a similar declaration at a news conference in December, KTRK-TV reported, promising: “The lights are going to stay on this winter.”
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the grid, issued a winter storm watch through Sunday and urged Texans to contact local utilities for power outage issues.
“During any given day there are reasons why there may be power outages that have nothing to do with the power grid whatsoever,” Abbott said.
”There are a variety of reasons why people may lose power,” he said, naming as potential culprits fallen trees and ice accumulating on power lines—issues unrelated to the amount of electricity available on the state’s grid.
According to Abbott, the highest demand for power from the state’s grid is anticipated on Friday. He insisted that the state was “well prepared for conditions as they currently stand.”
Abbott was reluctant last year to fault the state’s power grid, instead blaming frozen wind turbines for the lack of power. He later demanded improvements to ERCOT, which announced in December that it had completed inspections of more than 300 electric generation units and 22 transmission facilities to ensure they “comply with tough, new Public Utility Commission and Texas Legislature winter preparation requirements.”
Public Utility Commission of Texas Chairman Peter Lake confirmed Tuesday that the power plants and transmission structures inspected by the agency were found to be in “near universal compliance” with federal winterization standards.
The state’s natural gas system was also brought under scrutiny last year, and questions have emerged around whether natural gas companies will be able keep up a steady flow of gas supply to fuel power plants throughout the storm.
Abbott said when asked about the potential issue that, “there might be some reduction in the generation of natural gas,” but that the power grid’s integrity should hold “even if there is a loss of some level of production of natural gas.”
“We’ve been working for the last year to make sure that this grid is more reliable than it ever has been in the past, and it is,” interim ERCOT CEO Brad Jones said on Tuesday.
The National Weather Service has predicted chilly conditions during the storm, which is expected to hit the state on Wednesday night, issuing warnings about freezing rain, as well as sleet and snow, with temperatures dropping into the 20s on Thursday.
Even though this week’s storm is not expected to be as severe as last year’s, a slew of school districts have already cancelled classes for Thursday and Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported
Southwest Airlines had also suspended operations at a Dallas airport for Thursday, and American Airlines, which is based out of Fort Worth, had cancelled dozens of flights beginning on Wednesday.
Resident Martin Martiniano, 65, told the Dallas Morning News that he remembered losing water and power for “about a week” last year and is bracing for what’s to come.
“It truly was very horrible, it was a very difficult time,” Martiniano said.