A winter storm that dropped snow and ice also caused temperatures to drop on the southern plains, causing an electrical emergency in Texas a day after conditions canceled flights and affected traffic in large strips. of the USA. lasting short periods instead could continue for hours as temperatures dropped to teens near Dallas and the 1920s in Houston.
The cut on rotating electricity was started Monday morning by Texas Electric Reliability Council, which manages energy flow in the state.
The council described rotary interruptions as a “last resort to preserve the reliability of the electricity system as a whole”, adding that utility transport companies have the task of determining how to reduce demand for the system.
Oncor, a company that serves the Dallas-Fort Worth area and other parts of the state, said Monday morning on Twitter that the outages it could last for hours.
“They’re not off,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he said on Twitter. “We’re facing system-wide power outages across the state.”
Oncor advised customers to close blinds or curtains, close rooms and stuff towels or cloths in the cracks under the doors to avoid losing heat.
“All grid operators and all power companies are struggling to restore energy right now,” said Council President and CEO Bill Magness he said in a statement.
More than 2.7 million customers in Texas were in the dark as of 11:20 a.m., according to poweroutage.us, a utility tracking site.
CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported that strong winds were creating chills below zero. For the first time, there was a wind chill warning in North Texas. Monday night and Tuesday dangerously cold temperatures were forecast, with sensational sensations.
CBS Houston subsidiary KHOU-TV said all of Southeast Texas was also under a wind chill warning until Tuesday morning.
Up to 400 record cold temperatures were possible across the country in the middle of the week, said Jeff Berardelli, a meteorologist and climate specialist at CBS News.
Matt Varble, in the Las Colinas suburb of Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News that his power had been turned off a couple of times Monday morning. The second time, he left around 3:30 in the morning and had not returned from 7 in the morning
“It’s starting to get very cold in my house,” Varble told the newspaper. “I lived north for a long time and nothing like that ever happened when I lived in New York, Ohio and Illinois.”
About 5,000 Oklahoma Gas & Electric customers were without electricity overnight and Entergy Arkansas recorded about 3,000 outages. Both states have much smaller populations compared to Texas.
Houston officials had warned people to prepare for dangerous cuts and roads, conditions similar to those residents could see in the wake of a Category 5 hurricane.
“Recently (there have been) numerous reports of accidents due to ice formation,” National Weather Service forecaster Bob Oravec said Monday. “I think there will be a big threat today as the system pushes to the northeast.”
By mid-morning, 3,000 flights had been canceled nationwide, about 1,600 of them at Dallas / Fort Worth and Bush Intercontinental International Airports in Texas. At DFW, the temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit, 3 degrees colder than Moscow.
Ice could accumulate between one-tenth and a quarter of an inch east of Louisiana, Mississippi, central Tennessee, Kentucky and the West Virginia-Ohio border region, Oravec said.
Up to 12 inches of snow was expected in some parts of the southern plains through Monday, said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Forecast Center.
The region had been preparing for winter weather for most of the weekend. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster statement for all 254 counties in the state. Abbott, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, each National Guard units activated to help state agencies with tasks such as rescuing trapped drivers.
Sue Ogrocki / AP
President Biden also declared an emergency in Texas in a statement Sunday night. The statement seeks to add federal aid to state and local response efforts.
The National Weather Service said Sunday that early Tuesday forecast calls for 8 to 12 inches of snow in central Oklahoma and 4 to 8 inches in an area stretching from East Texas to the west. Ohio Valley to the northeast.
In Louisiana, police closed several bridges and parts of some stakes due to icy conditions around Baton Rouge. It should be noted that Interstate 10 between Baton Rouge and Lafayette was closed in both directions on Monday morning due to the accumulation of ice that caused multiple accidents.
In Memphis, Tennessee, snow began to fall Sunday afternoon, and in Mississippi, sleet in Jackson and other central parts of the state left road and bridge routes.
Parts of Kentucky and West Virginia that were 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.