A winter storm watch is in effect for Dallas-Fort Worth from from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.
The storm comes nearly a year after Texas’ power crisis when power outages left millions without electricity for days amid freezing temperatures.
Officials during a press conference Tuesday in Austin expressed confidence in power grid preparations while also urging safe driving — or the avoidance of roads — and cautioned that there could be outages resulting from ice on power lines or trees falling on them.
The winter weather could serve as a test of the state’s response following 2021’s storm, when more than 200 people died. During the news conference, Abbott was pressed about the metric of success for grid reliability.
“The goal obviously is through the course of any winter storm, or in the course of any everyday event, is to make sure that the lights stay on, the power stays on,” Abbott said, adding that representatives with the Public Utilities Commission, the Energy Reliability Council of Texas and the Texas Division of Emergency Management are working to make sure that goal is achieved.
But Abbott said there’s no guarantee the state won’t see outages.
Abbott guaranteed in November that “lights will stay on.” His remarks were highlighted by Grand Prairie Democrat Chris Turner, who in a Twitter post contrasted them to the governor’s Tuesday statement.
Doug Lewin, an energy and climate consultant in Austin, called Abbott’s Tuesday comment a “polar opposite” statement from what he said in the past.
Abbott’s comment Tuesday was also blasted by Beto O’Rourke, who’s running for governor as a Democrat. The campaign said Abbott was “flip-flopping” in a news release.
“Abbott failed to prepare us for a completely preventable disaster, and then failed to make changes that would protect us from the next extreme weather event,” O’Rourke said in a statement.
Agencies ready to respond include the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Public Utilities Commission, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of Public Safety and ERCOT — a nonprofit that manages the flow of electricity to most of Texas.
“We want to make sure that our fellow Texans know exactly what is coming, what to expect,” Abbott said. “We want them to know what Texas has been doing for basically an entire year now to be prepared for the storm, in addition to steps that have been taken over the past week or two, as well as what we will be doing over the course of the remainder of the week.”
PUC and ERCOT officials offered assurances that the power grid is reliable. Chair Peter Lake said reforms in recent months ensure the grid is “reliable and ready for this winter weather event.”
“We will continue operating the grid in a conservative fashion by bringing on more reserves for increased margin of safety and by operating in abundance of caution so that we have more supply sooner rather than later,” Lake said.
Abbott said thousands of miles of roads could become “extraordinarily dangerous” in the coming days. TxDOT began pre-treatment of roads on Sunday, Abbott said. He encouraged drivers to visit drivetexas.org to get updates on road conditions.
“We expect that the conditions that we will see will make for very hazardous driving conditions, and that despite efforts with pre-treatment, that we cannot guarantee 100% that roads won’t have unsafe conditions on them,” said TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams. “It’s very important that motorists be aware of those road conditions, drive for those road conditions, slow down, and if you do not have to get out when the roads are icy or snow covered, please don’t.”
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