TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Utility officials say tens of thousands of people across Texas remained without power on Saturday morning after storms rolled through the state on Friday night, downing trees and power lines, and damaging electrical equipment.
In a statement issued Saturday morning, transmission and distribution electric utility Oncor confirmed that, at 9 a.m., approximately 75,000 customers across the state were still without power in the wake of the storms, with that number having peaked at 125,000 customers on Friday night.
As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, a little over 4,600 remained without power statewide, according to Oncor's outage map.
Tarrant County took the brunt of the damage and continues to endure the most outages. There, Oncor reports about 3,600 customers still without power as of 7:30 a.m., primarily in the southern portions of the county.
In Dallas County, Oncor says around 750 remain without power as of 7:30 a.m. as a result of the storms, which brought winds gusting in excess of 60 miles per hour and frequent lightning strikes across the state.
In Johnson County, an additional 47 customers are still without power at 7:30 a.m., according to Oncor reports. Another 59 in Parker County are also still affected, Oncor's own outage maps show.
In its statement, Oncor said its teams are "working around the clock until power can be restored" and that its crews began its effort to restore power as soon as it was safe to do so. Additionally, teams from unaffected regions of Oncor’s service area have been brought in to support those efforts, the statement said.
Restoring all service could take some time, however. Oncor's statement noted that Oncor vegetation management personnel have to remove tree limbs and branches before repairing and rebuilding damaged lines and equipment.
Oncor's statement also urges safety among customers in affected areas, encouraging them to stay away from downed power lines and call 911 if they see any. Oncor also urges customers to not try removing debris from power lines themselves, and to use caution when driving in areas with heavy debris.
Customers who utilize electricity for their medical devices should also develop backup plans for using their devices in times without power, Oncor said.
