Thousands of people without power after storms rock Central Texas
AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 15,000 homes in Central Texas have had no power all night after strong storms rolled through the area on Friday evening.
Austin Energy said its crews worked through the night to restore power to more than 20,000 homes in the city, but 10,6000 properties across the city are still without power as of 10 a.m. Saturday morning.
The company said it is prioritizing restoration for people who have had no power the longest. It added that there is no estimated time for restoration, but work may need to continue through Saturday afternoon.
They are also dealing with four broken poles and about 60 hazards that crews have to navigate.
Bastrop County, which was placed under a tornado warning on Friday and saw some of the worst damage, is also affected by outages – 1,200 homes have no power, according to Bluebonnet Electric, which is dealing with 2,500 total outages in Central Texas.
Another 1,700 Oncor Energy customers in Williamson and Travis counties are without power.
Austin Energy said people should avoid downed power lines on Saturday and call the company at 512 322-9100 if they spot any.
Bluebonnet said that new crews began to work on the outages at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, and will work “quickly” and “safely” to restore power, it said.