Dear Neighbors,
I know that many of you all over the district remain without power and want property and neighborhood specific details on power restoration efforts in your area. I recognize that you are trying to plan. Unfortunately, the reality is Austin Energy cannot offer timelines for restoration at this point. There are more than 600 workers from Austin Energy and other utilities working to restore power to each and every customer. The work is time consuming and dangerous. I am grateful for the lineworkers and appreciate your patience during this extremely frustrating time.
Below I am sharing the latest update from the City, which provides more information on the disaster declaration, power restoration efforts, safety tips, and debris disposal. When there is more information, I will share that as well.
I also want to acknowledge that the outage map is maddening and not intuitive, especially if you are without power and conserving your power or operating with limited cell service. Here are a few things that I have learned that might be useful.
What I have found generally is that if your home is not the single incident on that part of the circuit, it is very unlikely that your individual home will appear on the map. Instead your home will be counted within one of the dots / shapes aggregating up different outages with one symbol. So your home might be captured by one of several outage shapes that represent groups of homes - the symbols vary by the number of homes involved (10’s, 100’s or 1000’s). They do not mark every house for a given outage on the map, but group them in this way. The group icon may not be immediately near the home. I know that is frustrating, but it seems to be how the map functions.
Circuits can be quite large and you could be located miles from the substation that feeds your home. The circuits do not follow logical paths, think more like a star chart than a street grid. That means that any work could be very far from you if the whole circuit is down. Sometimes a circuit goes back on and a branch off of it is not ready to restore. That might be what happened if large swathes of homes near you had power restored and you did not get restored. Alternatively, people across the street could be serviced by an entirely different circuit. Each case is different. There are also a lot of instances where AE's lines are in backyards and that is also affecting the speed of work. You may not see crews working because your circuit is long and a lot of work is happening behind people’s houses.
One more thing I want to emphasize for those trying to schedule storm debris collection. If 311 wait times are long, you can also request storm debris through the 3-1-1 app. You will find “Storm Debris Collection” is at the top on the app under “Trending Requests”.
Here’s hoping the crews are very productive today with this beautiful weather.
Regards,
Alison Alter
Council Member, District 10
City of Austin Winter Weather - Morning Status Update - Feb 5
Disaster Declarations
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Travis County Judge Andy Brown signed local disaster declarations for this week’s winter storm. This is the first step in the process of seeking state and federal assistance for response and recovery efforts for the community. The City of Austin’s declaration, which has been certified by the City Clerk, can be viewed HERE.
Yesterday, Governor Gregg Abbott issued an Ice Storm Disaster Declaration. The disaster declaration includes Denton, Hays, Henderson, Milam, Smith, Travis, and Williamson counties. Additional counties may be added to the declaration as damage assessments are completed.
"Through this disaster declaration, we will be able to provide additional assistance to Texans and communities who have experienced property damage and localized power outages from this ice storm. Texans are encouraged to continue reporting damages to the iSTAT damage survey so we can meet all needs in the recovery process." Learn more HERE.
The public is encouraged to help local government agencies get a full assessment of damage impacts from the storm. Individuals are able to report their impacts through the iSTAT survey, which is available HERE.
Austin Energy
Austin Energy and other utility crews made significant progress overnight, working to restore power to affected customers Austin Energy is grateful for the increasing number of crews from other utilities who continue to arrive to help. MP Technologies and Tempest Energy join mutual aid crews from New Braunfels Utilities, CenterPoint Energy, Bird Electric, Renegade and CPS Energy in restoration efforts. More than 600 workers from Austin Energy and other utilities continued working through the night to restore power to more than 34.000 customers since 1 p.m. Saturday, bringing the total number of customers restored to 300,485 since the beginning of this historic weather event.
While 91 percent of Austin Energy’s customers now have power, restoring power to remaining customers will likely be more difficult and take longer. That’s because their outages are likely due to more heavily damaged equipment that will require complex repairs. 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.
Residents should stay away from downed power lines in or near their yards. Call 512-322-9100 to report a downed power line; if the line is sparking, call 911. Never touch a power line or any items in contact with a power line.
Customers without power can check the outage map on Austin Energy’s website at outagemap.austinenergy.com and report their outage online or by texting 287846. Customers who receive a text that an outage in their area has been restored should reply OUT if they still have an outage. Smaller outages can continue after a major circuit has been repaired when secondary power lines or equipment have also been damaged.
If your property has experienced damage to electrical equipment, please call an electrician. Individual repairs must be made before Austin Energy can reenergize power to your property. This may also affect power restoration to your neighbors. Austin Energy’s Electric Service Planning Application form can be found here: https://austinenergy.com/contractors/electric-service-design-and-planning/espa
More information about permitting can be found here: https://www.austintexas.gov/emergency-permits.
Crews may knock on residents’ doors to gain access to Austin Energy equipment, such as power lines in a utility easement located on a resident’s property. Austin Energy personnel will be clearly identifiable with badges and in Austin Energy vehicles. Residents are asked to work with them on allowing access as needed.
Residents out driving on Austin roads are asked to remember to slow down and move over for any utility crews working in the field to restore power. Video is available here.
As crews work to restore power, circuits can become overloaded because of appliances, electronics, thermostats, pool pumps, pool heaters and vehicle chargers left on before the outage. This is called cold load pickup and it may cause a second outage.
Customers currently without power can help avoid cold load pickup by:
Austin Water
This winter weather event has not impacted Austin Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants, and water storage levels remain healthy. Austin Water continues to work closely with Austin Energy to restore power to pumps and lift stations throughout our service area.
Until power is completely restored, Austin Water continues to ask customers to conserve water to reduce demand on the system. Ways you can conserve:
Shorten shower times
Avoid unnecessary toilet flushes
Avoid washing clothes for as long as possible
Postpone washing dishes if you can
Check all faucets, shower heads, and under cabinets for drips.
Check water heaters.
Austin Transportation
As of this morning, 54 traffic signals remain dark; two traffic signals are in flash mode. Drivers are reminded to approach all intersections with caution and treat all dark traffic signals as an all-way stop.
Crews are spending today testing and resetting school zone beacons. However, there is concern several of those systems sustained damage during the storm. Drivers are asked to treat all school zones as active when school resumes.
Recovery Support
Repairs and Permits
The City’s Development Services Department will work retroactively with homeowners, business owners and contractors to permit and inspect emergency repairs to ensure work was completed safely. That means that work can begin quickly on repairs. Types of repairs that will require permits include:
Learn more about emergency repairs and permits here.
Storm Debris Management
Staff from the Texas Forest Service are spending today assisting in debris gathering and ensuring the right of way is clear. Austin Public Works has divided the City of Austin into sections to complete this assessment and will continue work throughout the week, scaling up citywide on Monday.
Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) crews are working tirelessly to collect storm debris and has enlisted the help of three contract crews that will be working alongside City staff to expedite the collection of storm debris materials. Because the damage is widespread throughout the entire City, collections will take some time. Here are some guidelines for storm debris set out correctly and collected as soon as possible.
Typically, ARR will collect the contents of your green cart and up to 15 extra items placed beside the cart but item limits will be temporarily waived for storm debris collection.
Downed Tree Limbs: Request a collection of downed tree limbs due to the storm by contacting Austin 3-1-1 via its mobile app, online request form or calling 3-1-1 (512-974-2000). Please have the limbs at the curb ready for collection at no charge to the customer.
Debris should be cut and assembled using the following guidelines:
Branches and limbs should be between 5 and 15 feet in length. Branches and limbs longer than 15 feet should be cut down.
Tree trunks thicker than 8 inches in diameter should be cut down to 3 feet long or less.
Stack loosely along the curb in one row, not more than 15 feet across and no higher than 4 feet, with cut ends facing the street.
Please don't block the sidewalk or extend into the street.
To prevent damage to your property, keep items 5 feet away from your trash cart, mailbox, fences or walls, water meter, telephone connection box and parked cars. Do not place any items under low-hanging tree limbs or power lines.
Please ensure debris is not in the street or blocking the sidewalk.
Austin Water has also extended hours at Hornsby Bend Biosolids Treatment Plant on 2210 S FM 973 on Sunday for brush drop-off, from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM Material will also be accepted during regular business hours, Monday–Saturday. The material will be composted and made into Dillo Dirt. Learn more at: https://www.austintexas.gov/brushdropoff
Residents with physical limitations or financial needs requiring help cleaning up winter storm debris can request volunteer assistance through the Austin Disaster Relief Network. Complete this form: link.adrn.org/ws-cleanup-request.
Safety Information
Although it is now getting warmer and the roads have begun to be cleared, certain dangers still exist due to the remaining downed power lines. Trees have been weakened and may continue to fall– people should remain aware of their surroundings.
Food Safety for Power Outages: Refrigerated or frozen foods may not be safe to eat after the loss of power. Find out what you can do to keep food safe during a power outage, and when you need to throw away food that could make you sick. More information: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/food-safety-during-a-power-outage.html. Austin Resource Recovery customers can dispose of any spoiled food by placing it in their green composting cart for collection, and recycle the glass, plastic and metal containers. Place all plastic wrap, waxy paper and Styrofoam packaging in the trash.
