Austin leaders underestimated ice storms that still have 156,000 utility customers in the dark

Austin Energy and city officials faced growing calls for answers Thursday about how they prepared and responded to the worst power outage since the historic winter storm of 2021 as crews worked to restore electricity to more than 156,000 homes and businesses.

Mayor Kirk Watson, who took office in early January, acknowledged in an interview with the Statesman that it appears as though the city could have done more to get ready for the winter storm and that he was disappointed that officials were not more aggressive in their public communication as downed trees, branches and limbs left tens of thousands shivering in dark and cold homes.

"I think Austin Energy was ready for what they anticipated was going to happened and what weather reports stated," Watson said. "But what they were not ready for was for a long accumulation of the ice buildup."

Weather forecasts called for a significant weather storm days in advance, including a winter storm alert issued Monday that warned of up to a quarter-inch of ice accumulation over the coming days. But by Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service's revised outlook included up to three-quarters of an inch of ice and an extension of the winter storm warning to Thursday morning.

Many of Austin's outages began early Wednesday but it remained unclear late Thursday when power would be restored to about 30% of the city's utility customers. Officials said repairs could be done by 6 p.m. Friday, fueling criticism, anger and frustration from residents.

Austin Energy officials on Thursday said that because each individual outage has unique challenges, full restoration will take longer than initially anticipated.

“We know this is an update no one wants to hear,” the utility said in a Tweet. “We understand this makes an already challenging situation even more unbearable.”

Reliving the trauma of the weeklong February 2021 freeze, when many homes went days without power leaving 28 people dead locally, Watson acknowledged that this event was unlike that winter weather, which threatened the Texas power grid and largely left Austin Energy not directly responsible for local outages, but added that more could have been done to prepare.

The storm two years ago saw about 40,000 to 50,000 more outages among Austin Energy customers.

Jackie Sargent, general manager for Austin Energy, said that multiple crews had been on standby, ready to respond to outages, but the problems slowly became overwhelming as the weather worsened.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning beginning Monday afternoon through Wednesday for Travis, Williamson and other Central Texas counties. Forecasters had said the "highest ice accumulations through Wednesday will be expected from the Hill Country into the Austin metro area, where a quarter- to a half-inch of ice will be possible."

But, ice accumulations of up to three-quarters of an inch snapped tree limbs and downed power lines across Austin, leaving as many as 171,000 households and commercial Austin Energy customers without electricity on Wednesday evening.

Oncor, an electricity provider that also serves the Austin metro area, reported 27,401 outages in Williamson County and 11,738 outages in Travis County as of noon Thursday. Some of the areas affected include Round Rock, Taylor and Jarrell as well as Pflugerville, according to Oncor's outage map. There was no estimated time listed for power to be restored on the outage map. The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Thursday.

Sargent said Austin Energy has made progress on outages, but because of the volume of outages, they called on neighboring public power utilities to help on Wednesday, with crews coming from as far as Houston. But some have argued that it was too little, too late.

“Some could argue that it could have been done earlier to get ahead of these things so that we wouldn’t be so much in this situation,” Watson said in the interview with the Statesman. “And this is one of things that when this over we will have to sit down and debrief, and ask what should the decision tree be that gets that done more quickly.”

Thursday morning marked the first time a cohesive voice from local government addressed the severity of the situation, which Watson said needed to be done sooner.

Following the 2021 weeklong freeze, an After Action Report from 2021 stressed the need for better communication in events such as this, when fear, confusion and anger loom.

“I became very frustrated about the lack of communication we were having,” Watson said. “In these situations, we have to overly communicate if you can, and get as much info out there as much as you. We need to have a better communication plan that starts very early, and that is something we will look at once power is restored.”

Sargent said Austin Energy employees have been available and have responded to questions as they have come in, along with communicating through social media and its website.

Additionally, the outage map, which is updated every 10 minutes, went down Wednesday, creating widespread panic about restoration times and reporting.

Sargent said that when a storm like this hits, and downed trees cause widespread outages and damage, the utility turns off the "estimated restoration time" feature because it becomes too difficult to make an accurate estimate. The texting feature faced the same issue.

As of Thursday morning, the map was up and running and should be accurate, she said, adding that as temperatures rise and conditions improve, more power would slowly be restored.

Austin's freezing temperatures ended Thursday afternoon, as temperatures rose to nearly 40 degrees at Camp Mabry, site of the city's main weather station.

Moving forward, city officials said they plan to evaluate their storm response and find ways to improve. Watson and Sargent also said they plan to look at how to improve the infrastructure, such as burying power lines, but that move requires time and can be expensive.

Austin Water officials on Thursday also assured residents that the water system has functioned without any significant disruptions, and do not anticipate any need for boil-water notices, as the city experienced following the 2021 weeklong freeze.

Limited trash collections resumed Thursday, with Austin Resource Recovery officials telling residents that carts, bulk, and brush items should be left at the curb to allow crews to catch up over the next several days. Collections will continue into the weekend, and normal operations will resume on Monday, they said.

Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk said the city and county established cold weather shelters and warming centers, and has organized transportation to those locations in partnership with community groups to address the needs of some of our most vulnerable residents.

"I want to acknowledge the stress and frustration that our entire community is experiencing through this historic freeze," Cronk said. "I want to assure you that we here at the city have been working through these days and nights and will continue to do so to address a multitude of issues and quickly address this ever evolving situation."

More:Winter storm warning for Austin this week: Here's what you need to worry about

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin leaders underestimated storms that caused power outages