Thousands Remain Without Power On 2nd Day Of Austin Freeze

AUSTIN, TX — Up to 11,000 Austin Energy residents remained without power on the second day of a big freeze across the city, officials said Friday.

An Arctic blast that descended upon the region on Thursday continued to wreak havoc on residents, with 265 outages reported on Friday afternoon that left thousands without power. Last night, more than 10,000 customers experienced power outages amid freezing temperatures and sleet.

"We are working diligently to restore power, but it is still dependent on hazards our crews encounter," Austin Energy officials wrote on Twitter. The prevalence of outages was such that utility officials were receiving reports of power failures on areas that were not yet input in a system power outage map, officials noted.

To illustrate the dangers utility crews face, officials tweeted a photo of a power line weighted down by a layer of ice across its length. "Ice buildup adds to the overall weight of a powerline or tree limb," officials wrote. "Half an inch of ice can add up to 500 lbs. to a power line, causing the line to break + cause an outage."

Utility officials asked for affected utility customers to be patient given the challenges such icy conditions pose to its crews. "During an ice storm, some equipment might require crews to perform additional work to operate that same switch resulting in much longer outages," utility officials wrote. "This additional time is required to ensure that the crews can safely restore power to customers."