2 million Texas households without power as massive winter storm drives demand for electricity

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Here’s what you need to know:

• 2 million Texas households are without power
• Texas cities open emergency shelters
• 100,000 Fort Worth residents receive boil water notice
• State sending extra resources to help across Texas

The state’s electric grid operator lost control of the power supply Monday morning as 2 million Texas households didn’t have heat or other electric appliances working at home as a massive winter storm delivered freezing temperatures across the state.

When the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, began implementing rolling blackouts at 1:25 a.m. Monday, the outages were intended to be implemented on a rolling basis — up to 45 minutes per affected area, according to the ERCOT.

Instead, some Texans in Austin, Houston and other cities were without power into Monday afternoon and all morning since even before ERCOT called for the rolling blackouts. And some companies that deliver electricity to households and businesses have told customers to expect to be without power through at least the end of the day as they work to restore power generating units that went offline during the storm.

“Unfortunately, if you are a customer who is currently experiencing an outage, you should be prepared to be without power for at least the rest of the day,” tweeted CenterPoint Energy. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said midday Monday that more than 1.1 million CenterPoint customers were without power.

Jackie Sargent, the general manager for Austin Energy, said Monday afternoon that based on information from ERCOT, the local power outages could extend into Tuesday afternoon.

“We are aware of where our system is at and we are operating with the constraints and the direction of ERCOT,” she said. “ERCOT has said that based on what they are looking at that, this situation is likely to continue through the night and possibly into the afternoon tomorrow. So it depends on what we do as consumers in managing our load, our consumption of electricity.”

The electricity grid was designed to be in high demand during the summer, when Texans crank their air conditioning at home. But some of the energy sources that power the grid during the summer are offline during the winter. So when Texans stayed home during the storm on Sunday and demanded record amounts of electricity, the state’s energy system could not keep up.

Some of the energy sources powering the grid were knocked out by the inclement weather, most of which were facilities run by gas, coal or nuclear energy.

“Most of the plants that went offline during evening and morning today were fueled by one of those sources,” said Dan Woodfin, senior director of system operations at ERCOT.

Wind turbines, which provide a much smaller source of energy for the state’s power grid, were iced over and also out of commission.

The storm that hit Texas is rare for both its scope and its intensity. On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for all 254 counties. Cities like Dallas and Austin had temperatures in the single digits Monday morning. Close to the coast in places like Houston and Corpus Christi, the weather was in the teens.

ERCOT announced Sunday night that it had set a winter record for power demand, reaching 69,150 megawatts between 6 and 7 p.m. ERCOT said Monday morning that 30,000 megawatts of power generation had been forced off the system. The grid operator also said it would provide an update at 10:30 a.m. Central time Monday.

The storm has shut down much of the state. Numerous roads are iced over, many schools have closed and, at Gov. Greg Abbott’s request, President Joe Biden declared a federal emergency declaration across the state. — Mitchell Ferman and Sami Sparber

Dallas, Houston Austin open emergency shelters

Several cities across the state have opened emergency shelters for residents without homes. In Dallas, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center opened on Friday to 300 people, and will remain open as long as temperatures are below freezing, reports NBC DFW.

The George R. Brown Convention Center and Lakewood Church in Houston opened as warming centers Sunday. Houston set up 500 beds inside the convention center and allowed pets. But on Sunday night, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a tweet that the center was nearing capacity. Turner said residents who need access to a warming center should call 311 or 211 to be directed to one of the several shelters in the city.

In Austin, a warming center opened on Saturday at Palmer Events Center. Austin officials said single adults in need of shelter should report to the Central Library and that families should go to the Downtown Salvation Army Shelter, reports KVUE. Several community organizations in San Antonio are stepping up to help unsheltered residents with a place to stay, food or supplies to keep warm. — Elvia Limón

100,000 Fort Worth residents receive boil water notice

Around 100,000 of Fort Worth residents are under a boil water order after a water treatment plant experiencing multiple power outages on Monday, reports WFAA. The Eagle Mountain Water Plant and raw water pump station has been without power for more than two hours. The boil order is expected to last until at least midday Wednesday. Even after water service returns, officials will need 24 hours to test the water.

Meanwhile, the city of Kyle in Central Texas is asking residents to stop all water use until further notice. According to the city’s Twitter account, Kyle is close to “running out of water supply” after power outages at the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and locally. — Elvia Limón

State sending extra resources to help across Texas

As Texans across the state grapple with a lack of power amid freezing temperatures, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said that he and the Texas Military Department have deployed National Guard troops across the state to help take people to one of the 135 local warming centers set up across Texas.

Other state agencies are also deploying resources and personnel to help local officials clear roadways and assist essential workers, including health care professionals and power grid workers.

Among the resource deployments Abbott announced:

• 3,300 troopers and 3,300 patrol vehicles from the Texas Department of Public Safety
• 90 personnel members and 28 high-mobility vehicles from the Texas Military Department
• 585 personnel members, 531 4×4 vehicles, 1 aircraft and 9 K9 teams from Texas Parks and Wildlife
• 2,314 personnel, 695 snowplows and 757 4×4 vehicles from the Texas Department of Transportation.

Here’s how to help:

• Dallas: Dallas Homeless Alliance President and CEO Carl Falconer said donations can be made to Our Calling, who is managing the city’s shelter at the convention center.
• Austin: Chris Davis, communications manager for Austin’s Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO, said people can find a list of ways to help here. These donations range from sleeping bags to monetary donations for hygiene and snack kits.
• San Antonio: South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless Executive Director Katie Vela said their biggest area of need is volunteers to work the overnight shifts, especially those living in the downtown area who might be able to walk to the shelters. Vela also said the shelters are also in need of hot meals beginning Tuesday. People can find the list of shelters here.
• Houston: Catherine B. Villarreal, the director of communications for the Coalition for the Homeless, said people can donate to any of the organizations in The Way Home listed here.

Matthew Watkins, Julián Aguilar and Ayan Mittra contributed to this report.

Disclosure: CenterPoint Energy has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.