Texas weather: Austin city officials prepared for possible freeze

Austin officials prepared for cold weather

The cold weather may be coming sooner than expected in Central Texas. But, city and county officials said they are prepared.

AUSTIN, Texas - The cold weather may be coming sooner than expected, but city and county officials say they are prepared.

"We've known that winter is coming. Now, it appears that it is arriving this weekend," said Travis County Judge Andy Brown.

Freezing cold temperatures are forecasted for this holiday weekend, and city and county officials want the public to know: they’re ready to respond.

"We've worked through some of the issues that we've seen in the past to identify specifics that we needed to address, and we've kind of lined those things up to start systematically ticking those things off of the list," said Ken Snipes, Director of the Austin Office Of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

CTX school districts prepare for cold weather

Round Rock ISD Superintendent Dr. Hafedh Azaiez says the district is closely monitoring the weather to give them enough time to alert parents and students if classes have to be canceled.

Some of those changes made include a new approach to how roads are managed and treated during freezing conditions. Although there is only a low chance of something like that happening this time around, Richard Mendoza, Director of Transportation and Public Works, says the utility will have crews on 12-hour rotating shifts on standby just in case.

"Public works crews are trained and ready to respond by applying deicing materials to our critical roadways and bridge infrastructure, and mobilizing heavy equipment to clear any accumulation of freezing material," he said.

Austin Energy officials also say they have been preparing, as well. Officials say 85 crews have been out trimming vegetation every day for the last year and now those crews have been focusing heavily on trimming around poles and substations.

Tips for homeowners during freeze

ERCOT has issued a weather watch ahead of an arctic cold front projected to hit Central Texas early next week. We're expecting temperatures to dip below freezing at times for several days.

Mayor of Austin Kirk Watson says one of the key issues faced a year ago was communication between officials. He says that has since been fixed.

"Everybody is being trained in the same way so that we are all communicating in the same way, and, frankly, that there are communication lines in place to allow for that communication to occur," he said.

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Three cold weather shelters will be activated starting Sunday, Jan. 14, and run through Tuesday, Jan. 16, at three Austin Public Library locations:

Little Walnut Creek Branch: 835 W. Rundberg Ln.
Ruiz Branch: 1600 Grove Blvd.
Terrazas Branch: 1105 E. Cesar Chavez St.

People can register at 5 p.m. on Sunday at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road.

"Please remember that cold weather shelters are open to anyone in our community that seeks a warm place for the night," said David Gray, COA Homeless Strategy Officer.

As for Austin Energy, they say they are prepared to respond to any outages, but the grid is in the hands of ERCOT.

"Right now, we feel pretty comfortable. ERCOT is saying that they have enough generation to meet the demand, and we'll just have to see what happens," said Bob Kahn, with Austin Energy.

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Winter Weather Austin Austin City Council