Photo by Danny Fulgencio
Residents went hours — some even days — without power, taking shelter with friends and family and wondering when last weekend’s bitter winter blackout would end. Oncor prioritizes its restorations by those with the biggest need, says spokeswoman Jeamy Molina.
“During all restorations of any kind, we make sure we can address the emergency facilities first — police, hospitals and other care centers. That’s our first priority.”
The next priority is set by density, and Oncor continues its work from there.
“We look at the maximum number of people we can restore at one time.”
The city began to ice over Thursday night, prompting schools, government buildings and many local businesses to close on Friday. At the peak of the storm, there were 270,000 outages, which included an influx of 50,000 new calls on Saturday and Sunday alone.
“That was due to the ice because it did not get above freezing,” Molina says. “We had trees falling onto power lines.”
All winter storm-related power outages have now been restored. Molina could not provide specific information about which Dallas neighborhoods received the brunt of the blackout as Oncor officials are still compiling the data.
Northaven Park, a area of about 1,200 homes bound by Forest, Midway, Royal and Marsh, still had sections without power on Sunday afternoon.
The only severe weather event comparable to last weekend in recent years is the ice storm that hit during the 2011 Super Bowl, which also lasted for several days. Molina says Oncor prepared for this round icy weather well in advance.
“We had been preparing for this storm all week long, watching the weather and meeting with Oncor officials,” she says.
At least 5,000 employees and contractors were on duty during the storm. Oncor officials also reached out to their mutual assistance partners (electricity providers outside Texas) bringing in helpers from eight different states.
“That helped us immensely.”
Our August cover story — published to coincide with our equally brutal summer months — took an in-depth look at the power grid. With our heaters running full blast, it’s worth revisiting everything you ever wanted to know about the energy grid.
Also, Advocate photographers Kim and David Leeson captured these detail shots of the weekend’s icy spell (click to enlarge):
