A winter storm that dropped snow and ice also dropped temperatures in the southern plains, causing a state of emergency in Texas, a day after conditions canceled flights and affected traffic across large parts of the US. to hold for short periods may rather last hours as the temperature dropped in the teens near Dallas and 20s around Houston.
Rotary power outages were started early Monday morning by the Texas Electric Reliability Board, which manages the flow of power in the state.
The council described the spin-offs as a “last resort to preserve the reliability of the electrical system as a whole”, adding that utilities have the task of determining how to reduce demand for the system.
Oncor, a utility that serves the Dallas-Fort Worth area and other parts of the state, said on Twitter Monday morning the interruptions can take hours.
“It’s not an eclipse,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. said on Twitter. “We are dealing with systemic power outages across the state.”
Oncor advised customers to close blinds or curtains, close rooms and tear towels or rags under the doors so as not to lose heat.
“Every network operator and every electrical company is currently fighting to restore power,” said Bill Magness, chairman and CEO of the council. said in a statement.
More than 2.7 million customers in Texas were in the dark at 11:20 a.m., according to poweroutage.us, a utility tracking site.
CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported that strong winds are causing wind chills. For the first time ever, there was a wind chill warning for North Texas. Dangerously cold “sensitive” temperatures are expected on Monday evening and Tuesday.
KHOU-TV, a subsidiary of CBS in Houston, said the entire southeast of Texas was also under a warning for wind cold on Tuesday morning.
By the middle of the week, up to 400 record cold temperatures across the country were possible, CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli said.
Matt Varble, in the suburb of Las Colinas in Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News his strength disappeared several times Monday morning. The second time it went out around 03:30 and it was not at 07:00
“It’s getting really cold in my house,” Varble told the newspaper. “I lived in the north for a very long time and something like that has never happened before when I lived in New York, Ohio and Illinois.”
About 5,000 Oklahoma Gas & Electric customers were without power overnight, and Entergy Arkansas recorded about 3,000 outages. Both states have a much smaller population compared to Texas.
Houston officials have warned people to prepare for disruptions and dangerous roads – conditions similar to what residents may see in the aftermath of a Category 5 hurricane.
“There have been numerous reports of accidents due to icing,” national weather service forecaster Bob Oravec said Monday. “I think there’s going to be a big threat today if the system pushes north.”
By morning, 3,000 flights across the country had been canceled, of which about 1,600 were at Dallas / Fort Worth International and Bush Intercontinental Airports in Texas. At DFW, the temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit – 3 degrees colder than Moscow.
Oravec said the ice was possible between a tenth and a quarter of an inch across eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, Central Tennessee, Kentucky and more in the border area of Western Virginia and Ohio.
Marc Chenard, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s weather forecast center, expected up to 12 inches of snow over parts of the southern plain until Monday.
The region got ready for the better part of the weekend for the winter weather. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a state of emergency for all 254 states in the state. Abbott, the Governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, and the Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, each activated National Guard units to assist government agencies with tasks, including rescuing stranded drivers.
Sue Ogrocki / AP
President Biden also declared a state of emergency in Texas in a statement Sunday night. The statement is intended to add federal aid to state and local response efforts.
The National Weather Service said Sunday that the forecast for early Tuesday requires 8 to 12 inches of snow in central Oklahoma and 4 to 8 inches in an area from east Texas to the Ohio Valley in the northeast.
In Louisiana, police have closed several bridges and sections of some highways due to icy conditions around Baton Rouge. In particular, Interstate 10 between Baton Rouge and Lafayette was closed Monday morning in both directions due to ice accumulation that caused several accidents.
In Memphis, Tennessee, snow began to fall Sunday afternoon, and in Mississippi, snow in Jackson and other central parts of the state left the roads and bridges slippery.
Parts of Kentucky and West Virginia that were still recovering from an ice storm last week were expected to rise to a quarter of an inch of ice or up to 8 inches of snow on Tuesday.