Hundreds of thousands of businesses and households across Central and East Texas remained without power Thursday as utility crews continued scrambling to fix power lines downed by freezing rain and fallen trees.
The epicenter of the crisis was Austin, where the city-owned power utility said it didn't know when it would be able to restore power to more than 150,000 households and businesses, many of which have lacked electricity since Wednesday morning. Austin Energy had previously said it would have power restored by 6 p.m. Friday.
“We know this is an update no one wants to hear,” Austin Energy tweeted. “We understand this makes an already challenging situation even more unbearable. We have 100+ crews and counting working to turn the power back on. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.”
