Widespread Power Outage: 70,000 People Affected After Massive Winter Storm in Texas

More than 90 million Americans from Texas to Maine's northern border were included in the weather advisories on winter and ice storm warnings. A band of weather alerts has been spread to every resident about 2,000 miles long.

At a winter weather briefing Thursday morning, February 03, 2022, the current and projected grid conditions show there is plenty of power available now and for the rest of this winter storm said, Gov. Greg Abbott in a report in Washington Post,

The catastrophe of snowstorms around U.S

Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas experienced power outages blamed on icy or downed power lines. Also, the path of the storm stretched further from the central US into the south and northeast, as per Aljazeera.

(Photo : Marc Kleen/Unsplash)
Cold winter day in Haarlem, The Netherlands with heavy wind and a lot of snow

While forecasters said heavy ice buildup was likely from Texas to Pennsylvania, the heavy snow from northern New England to the southern Rockies.

As a major winter storm continued moving east across the United States, bringing snow, sleet, and freezing rain to Midwest and the eastern U.S, more than 300,000 customers from Texas to Pennsylvania were without power Thursday night.

The National Weather Service warned the residents to not travel due to harsh conditions, and local authorities advised drivers to stay off the roads. As published by The Washington Post.

Read More: Deadly storm bringing tornado threats and hazardous precipitation to millions from the Gulf States to Canada

Government agencies and airports take action on the matter

Mr. Abbott said Thursday that the state has 15% more power generation capacity now compared with last year, the electric reliability of Texas will manage the power grid. "The Texas electric grid is the most reliable and resilient it's ever been," he stated in a report in Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, Public Utility Commission of Texas Chairman Peter Lake stated that it is important to understand that those localized outages that are not related to system-wide reliability issues, their grid is strong, reliable, and it's performing well in the events of winter weather. Governor Abbott is deploying 10,000 linemen across the state to work and fix any downed power lines.

Nearly 7,000 flights are being canceled due to the extreme snow and cold. Also, more than a thousand at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and more than 300 at nearby Dallas Love Field are canceled. 

(Photo : DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
Two planes sit on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan airport, near Washington, DC, one of them a Delta Airbus being de-iced before departure January 4, 2018. The US National Weather Service warned that a major winter storm would bring heavy snow and ice, from Florida in the southeast up to New England and the Northeast on Wednesday and Thursday

A spokesperson for American Airlines said that they going to monitor whether they were able to clear the runways and if their staff could make it safely.

In addition to that, all flights across Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio are also canceled. According to The Wall Street Journal.

Also, the officials at Boston Public Schools said that they would close Friday, in addition, many school districts are prompted to close classrooms due to the dangerous roadways caused by the storm this week.

This includes the districts in Houston, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Louisville that are being closed on Thursday.

Read more: Extreme cold weather alert issued for Toronto ahead of freezing temperatures