Millions of Texans remained without power on Wednesday morning although temperatures climbed above freezing across half of the state, a possible sign the state’s power grid could make significant progress restoring service. Pockets of Texas entered their third straight day of widespread power outages amid an extended winter storm, as electric utilities and the power grid scrambled to restore service.
The grid operators and power companies pleaded for patience as they tried to restore normal service. “We know this is hard. We continue to work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power,” the Texas grid operator tweeted Wednesday morning. “We hope to reduce outages over the course of the day.”
The emergency situation began in the early morning hours of Monday when several power plants tripped offline in rapid succession. The deep freeze continued into Wednesday in the northern part of the state, making it difficult for officials to restore power across the state.
What is happening in Texas?
An unusual Arctic blast spread across Texas on Monday and Tuesday from the tip of the Panhandle all the way to the Rio Grande Valley. Residents of large swaths of the state experienced two straight days of single-digit temperatures.
The widespread cold weather led to record-breaking demand for electricity. On Sunday night into Monday morning, frigid conditions hobbled dozens of power plants. This led the state’s grid operator to declare its most serious state of emergency at about 1:30 a.m. Monday.