AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Energy said it will host community events throughout the week for residents who are still without power following Wednesday morning’s ice storm.
As of 11:58 a.m. Sunday, Austin Energy had 1,557 active outages affecting 41,322 customers, or around 8% of the utility’s service area.
The events will allow residents to charge their phones and other devices, including medical devices. Austin Energy said those wanting to charge devices should bring their own cords.
Austin Energy staff will be on-site to provide information about the utility’s medically vulnerable program and financial assistance options.
Details will be shared about the events throughout the week. On Sunday, Austin Energy was at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection at 2200 Justin Lane until 1 p.m. Breakfast and coffee was also provided.
On Saturday, the Central Texas Food Bank hosted two special food distribution events for those dealing with spoiled food, home repair costs and business closures.
The president of the Central Texas Food Bank said the organization will assess and decide whether to hold more food distribution events in the coming days.
On Sunday, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said restoring power to the remaining Austin Energy customers will likely be more difficult and take longer.
“Their outages are likely due to more heavily damaged equipment requiring complex repairs,” he said. “For example, damaged power lines may be in hard-to-reach areas like a greenbelt or buried under extremely heavy debris that must be removed before restoration can begin.”
City Manager Spencer Cronk said it is too early to know what resources will open up now that a disaster declaration has been issued, but that declaration will help create additional programs to help communities recover.