AUSTIN, Texas — Officials with the City of Austin held a press conference Thursday evening to provide an update on restoration efforts after a winter storm pushed through Central Texas this week.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, Travis County Judge Andy Brown, City Manager Spencer Cronk and representatives from Austin Energy and Austin Water spoke at 5 p.m. at Austin City Hall, located at 301 W. Second Street.
The update came after officials spoke Thursday morning about the impacts from the winter storm. The storm still has tens of thousands of Austin Energy customers without power.
According to Brown, the County is looking to issue a "disaster declaration" in conjunction with the City due to the massive amounts of debris from fallen trees and road damage as a way to assist in storm clean-up.
Austin Energy provided a statement at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, stating that it cannot provide a specific system-wide restoration time for the area. Due to the increased ice accumulations, the time of restoration has created added challenges to restoring power.
Jackie Sargent, general manager of Austin Energy, explained that the company had hoped to make strides in restoring power, but crews were unable to.
"The majority of outages from this winter storm are complex, involving heavy construction equipment in areas that sometimes impassable due to downed trees and branches. Additionally, we are continuing to experience repeated outages, meaning ice, trees and tree limbs continue to knock-out power to the same circuits that crews have just restored," Sargent said. "Crews are also being extra careful to avoid sheets of ice, icicles and tree branches that may snap back as they thaw. As a result, full restoration will take longer than initially anticipated."
Shay Roalson, director of Austin Water, stated that the treatment plants have been working normally and the water levels are healthy. The pump stations have been experiencing intermittent power outages, but their crews continue to help the pumps regain power.
Earlier on Thursday, a pump in southwest Austin had lost power and created "concern." The power has been regained to the pump on Davis Lane, and storage levels are being replenished. Austin Water does not anticipate that they will release a boil water notice or water outage.
"The less water you use, the less the tanks draw down," Roalson said.
In response to the continued power outages, CenterPoint Energy, based out of Houston, deployed nearly 70 employees and support personnel to assist Austin Energy and Oncor. CenterPoint Energy also stated that they have provided over 250 contractors in the last few days to help restore power to those that have been impacted, according to a press release.
“Our thoughts are with those impacted by the winter storm. We are ready to lend a helping hand to our neighbor utilities and are fully committed to restoring power to affected customers as safely and quickly as possible,” said Lynnae Wilson, CenterPoint Energy’s Senior Vice President, Electric Business. “Our linemen are skilled to perform in any type of conditions, just like they do for our customers at home.”
The additional crew members will be working 16-hour shifts during the restoration process.