About 5,400 Oncor customers in Tarrant County and 1,100 customers in Dallas County were affected by outages, as of 3:10 p.m. Saturday.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
As a powerful winter storm carried heavy sleet through Texas Saturday evening, thousands of North Texans have been left without power, as energy companies race to restore electricity.
About 3,900 Oncor customers in Tarrant County and 1,000 customers in Dallas County were affected by outages, as of 7:40 p.m. Across the state, about 13,000 customers do not have power due to 241 active outages, according to a map from Oncor.
Sleet cleared outside American Airlines Center before Mavericks game Sleet cleared outside American Airlines Center before Mavericks game
Additional outages are possible, as freezing rain and ice accumulation are expected to intensify, Oncor warned in a statement. Ice accumulation poses the greatest threat to electric services, since it can weigh down on tree limbs, causing them to sag or snap onto power lines.
The looming storm presents a test for the state’s electric grid, evoking reminders of the deadly 2021 storm. The system collapsed and more than 240 people died.
Tarrant and Dallas Counties were among the most impacted by outages Saturday afternoon. Elsewhere, about 1,200 customers in Lamar County, located in northeast Texas, were impacted, while Cherokee County in central east Texas has roughly 3,000 customers in need of power.
Oncor did not list an estimate for when electricity will be restored in Tarrant County. Dallas County will have power back on by 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Oncor, the largest electricity transmission and distribution utility in the state, delivers power to more than 4 million homes and businesses, according to a 2023 company report.
The company has hired or contracted more than 10,000 damage evaluators, lineworkers, tree trimming crew members and workers to respond to local outages as they occur. Restoration efforts will “continue around the clock,” Oncor said in a statement.
To report an outage, Texans can text “OUT” to 66267, call (888)-313-4747, use the MyOncor app, or visit Oncor.com. If they spot a downed power line, they should stay far away and call 911.
By Jessica Ma
Jessica Ma covers education at The Dallas Morning News. She previously had reporting stints at The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times and The Sacramento Bee. She is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism, American studies and political science.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
