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Winter weather updates for Sunday, Feb. 14: Federal government approves emergency declaration for Texas

Officials have already been warning about poor conditions on all roads, both highways and residential streets, urging people to stay home if possible.
Credit: WFAA

The snow fell for hours now across North Texas Sunday afternoon.

North Texans should continue to expect major accumulations on the roadways, especially overnight Sunday into Monday in areas to the south and southeast of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Drivers should use extreme caution, as blizzard-like conditions are expected and conditions will likely deteriorate.

Officials have already been warning about poor conditions on all roads, both highways and residential streets, urging people to stay home if possible.

Key links:

Remember to download the WFAA app to check one of our dozens of local radars near you as well as the latest forecast, cameras and current conditions.

RELATED: How to stay safe and prepare for a winter storm weather event

Here's what's happening across North Texas:

11:55 p.m.: The City Of Dallas says 664 people experiencing homelessness are being sheltered tonight by the city. If you see someone who needs assistance, please call 911, 311 or go on the Our Calling app to report.

9:24 p.m.: MedStar said it responded to 367 incidents Sunday, including 19 crashes. One of those crashed involved "two kids sled riding hit by a car," MedStar said. MedStar also reported 14 hypothermia cases, 10 of which were transported to the hospital.

9:01 p.m.: ERCOT said it set a new winter peak demand record Sunday night, with 69,150 MW used between 6 and 7 p.m. The previous peak was set in Jan. 2018.

6:40 p.m.: The federal government has approved a Federal Emergency Declaration for Texas in response to the severe winter storms in the state.

Gov. Greg Abbott submitted the request Saturday. 

The federal emergency declaration allows FEMA to provide emergency protective measures for mass care and sheltering and Direct Federal Assistance for all 254 counties in Texas.

RELATED: Gov. Abbott announces approval of federal emergency declaration for severe winter weather

6 p.m.: The National Weather Service Fort Worth has issued its first-ever wind chill warning, which will affect portions of North Central, northeast and South Central Texas, which will be in effect until noon Tuesday. Wind chills could reach as low as 20 degrees below zero on Monday morning and 15 to 20 below zero on Tuesday morning.

The region is also under a hard freeze warning until the same time.

"Extreme wind chills as low as 20 below zero will become life-threatening to people and animals outside without adequate warmth or shelter! The cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes," the NWS said.

5:18 p.m.: U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote to President Joe Biden in support of Gov. Greg Abbott's federal disaster declaration request in light of the severe winter storms affecting the state.

"The Governor and local officials have informed us that the severity and magnitude of the storm is beyond the response capabilities of the state and local government. 

"Prolonged sub-freezing temperatures, strained energy capacity, and treacherous roadways are just a few of the current dangers faced by all Texans. In the last three days, there have been 11 crash-related fatalities as road conditions deteriorate. More than 23,000 Texans have lost power, and frozen pipes have impacted water distribution across the state.

"We respectfully urge you to approve the Governor’s request for Public Assistance Category B and Direct Federal Assistance for all 254 Texas counties," the statement says.

3:47 p.m.: In Hurst, Republic Services is canceling trash service for Monday, Feb. 15. It is planning to resume pick-up on Tuesday. Non-emergency city facilities will also delay opening on Monday, Feb. 15 until 10 a.m.

3:43 p.m.: Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is suspending all rail travel until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday due to severe weather. Bus routes will still run on a Saturday schedule.

3:10 p.m.: ERCOT, the power grid operator in Texas, says about half of the wind turbine capacity (25,000-megawatts) in West Texas is not generating because of winter weather.

"As of this morning about half of the wind capacity was iced out," said Dan Woodfin, ERCOT.

ERCOT also said if electric reserves drop below certain thresholds, it would ask regional providers like ONCOR to turn off electricity to some neighborhoods for "maybe 15-30 minutes."

3 p.m.: What does the weather look like in your neck of the woods? Send us your local forecast on Twitter by shooting a 15-second horizontal video and tagging it with the hashtag #WFAAWinter. Here's an example:

2 p.m.: State officials are concerned about electricity demand and supply and said they may need to go into emergency operations starting this evening. At this point, rotating outages would be the last step they would take in an emergency and power reserves are currently fine, but they are concerned about the forecast.

Right now, they are urging Texans to conserve as much energy as possible. 

RELATED: 'Rotating outages' possible in next 72 hours as state officials urge Texans to conserve power due to extreme cold

1:30 p.m.: When the next batch of moderate to heavy snow arrives, it will bring with it near-blizzard white-out conditions. The sustained winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour, with gusts up to 35 mph will be blowing the snow around. Avoid roadways.

1:15 p.m.: Around 10,300 North Texan homes were without power as of 1:15 p.m. Sunday, according to Oncor. More than 22,100 people in all were without power across Texas at the time.

12:30 p.m.: Around 900 flights have been canceled at DFW and Love Field airports. 

Total cancellations within, into, or out of the United States today at Dallas-Fort Worth International totaled 709 flights as of 12:30 p.m., and 191 flights at Dallas Love Field.

12 p.m.: A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for all of North Texas. All 254 counties in Texas were under the warning as of noon Sunday.

9:30 a.m.: Officials are urging Texans to conserve electricity as the grid faces unprecedented demand from the extreme cold and a lower-than-normal electrical generation due to frozen turbines and lower natural gas supplies.

RELATED: State urging Texans to conserve power through Tuesday due to extreme cold

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