DALLAS, February 3, 2022 – Oncor damage assessment, vegetation management and power restoration personnel have been working since the arrival of winter storm Landon.
Oncor employees are being supported by more than 1,700 mutual assistance personnel from 10 states. Freezing temperatures and hazardous road conditions are challenging crews, but work will continue 24 hours-a-day as long as weather conditions allow.
As of 5 a.m., approximately 30,000 Oncor customers are without power. A majority of those outages – about 24,000 – are in the Dallas metro area and adjacent north and northeast counties. The storm has also greatly impacted the northern and western regions of our service area, with approximately 5,000 outages near the Red River and 1,000 in the Permian Basin. While outage totals in other regions of the Oncor service area are not as high, local crews are still actively responding as they occur.
Freezing temperatures, snow, sleet, rain and wind gusts of up to 30 mph are still being experienced in parts of the state. These conditions have led to ¼ to ½ an inch of ice accumulation in some areas and are posing the greatest impact to electric service.
Ice can increase the weight of tree branches by up to 30 times, causing limbs to significantly sag or break onto power lines. Increased ice and wind impacts are expected throughout Thursday morning, which could lead to new outage events.
Oncor encourages customers to keep these safety tips in mind:
- If you see a downed power line, leave the area and call 9-1-1. Also note that anything touching a power line, such as a tree branch, could also be electrified. Stay away and keep pets, children and others away from the area.
- Do not attempt to remove debris and tree limbs from areas near power lines. The debris may be concealing a live wire or downed power line.
- Avoid travel or use extreme caution when on the roadways.
- If you are experiencing and emergency event, call 911 immediately.
- For local, individual and family resources, see the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM)’s February Winter Weather 2022 webpage here.
Customers can report outages by through the MyOncor app, by texting OUT to 66267, visiting Oncor.com or calling 888-313-4747.