Strong wind gusts cause power outages across Austin
AUSTIN, Texas - Strong wind gusts caused power outages and damage across Austin on Monday night. Austin Energy said it has increased its staff after hundreds of residents were left without power for hours.
"We did see a lot of wind over the last 24 hours. We knew that was forecasted. Any time you get a wind gust in excess of 35, 40, even 50 miles an hour you are going to see outages," says Austin Energy Public Information officer Matt Mitchell.
According to Austin Energy, the raging winds blew vegetation into the powerlines, causing outages on Monday, Jan. 8.
"The other thing that it will do is it will blow wires or lines that are in between houses, maybe in between our electrical infrastructure and a home’s electrical system. It can blow those so violently that they become disconnected," Mitchell.
An overturned gas station canopy at an Exxon gas station in South Austin showed just how powerful wind gusts were. A store employee says he thought he heard a car crash because the noise was so loud, and according to Austin Energy, the winds impacted more than local businesses.
"There was one instance where we had about 1,000 people without power for about two houses because an entire tree had blown into that electrical line," said Mitchell.
Arborist and owner of Happy Tree Service of Austin Evan Peter says properly pruning trees will help in the event of strong winds.
"When that wind hits the center of the tree, if it’s a full healthy tree, the wind will be dissipated throughout the entirety of the canopy and this is a really effective strategy that trees have for protecting themselves. What we see happen a lot is people will have their trees pruned improperly, then when a windstorm occurs, that strong part of the tree that was protecting it is gone and so that wind flies right through the center of the tree," says Evan Peter, the owner of Happy Tree Service of Austin.
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"Obviously, every time you have a windstorm like this or high wind gust, we staff up, we make sure that we are prepared, our trucks are ready to roll, we have extra crews on standby, because we know we are going to get those outages," said Mitchell.
Mitchell says it is best to create a plan in case of an outage, especially if you have medically-vulnerable family members who may need assistance.
"We are making sure that we are in constant contact with ERCOT to know what they are expecting and what their generation requirements might be and all of those good things. And of course, we are keeping up with what the forecast is going to say and if it says that we are going to have some more precipitation that we weren't expecting, well, then we will plan for that, as well," said Mitchell.