Austin mayor apologizes for energy crisis after ice storm

Austin, Texas – On Friday morning, utility crews from other cities could be seen trying to restore Austin’s broken power grid.

As this work continued, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson held a briefing that began with an apology.

“I apologize for letting the people down in Austin. Ensuring clear, accurate and timely communication with the public is essential in such an emergency. And again the city failed to cope with the task. the past few years, and the public disappointment is absolutely justified. Again and again we see the same failures. So something will change,” Mayor Watson said.

Restoring power is a change many in Austin were still waiting for, including Melissa Mekosh, who told FOX 7 Austin she has been relying on a backup generator since Tuesday.

“My husband has ALS and is on life support. We are lucky we have a generator. delivered and everything.

Using a generator caused problems. As of Friday morning, ATCEMS was treating 32 people for carbon monoxide poisoning.

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“The most recent of these was a family who used their car in their garage to keep warm. The garage door was about a third of the way open and we had eight patients after that one call,” said ATCEMS department head Wes Hopkins.

Some emergency exits were difficult because several nearby roads were still partially blocked by fallen trees.

“That’s unacceptable. But at least you can leave. That’s right. I mean, honestly, until yesterday, I couldn’t even get out. So. And I cleared half, I cleared part of our street myself. Me and my neighbor,” Austin resident Ajed Mahr said.

As of Friday morning, about 700 places had not been delivered by the city’s 20 garbage collection teams. Three private contractors have been hired to clear the streets and are expected by Monday.

Additional assistance to the city is provided by the State Forest Service, with strike teams similar to the specialized chainsaw crews used after hurricanes.

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“We are in the process of sorting the entire city. One of the tools we have at our disposal is to call 311. This helps us know where the needs are most urgent in terms of our mapping planning and mapping process,” said Ken Snipes of Austin Resource Recovery.

Mayor Watson and Travis County Judge Andy Brown met Friday afternoon to announce the double disaster. This action will help the city access state and federal recovery funds. A plan for how to get utility lines out of the canopy the right way, a usually tricky discussion with Austin environmentalists, appears to be in motion right now.

“Frankly, we have to look at this not just from the harsh winter weather that could be detrimental, but also from a wildfire standpoint,” Mayor Watson said. “These are the things that this event highlighted and may have caused more trouble in Austin than you may have seen in other places where there is less canopy or a different approach to it. And we need to look at it.”

Austin City Council member Mackenzie Kelly introduced a resolution to review Austin Energy’s vegetation management plan. This review should include how the utility has handled this crisis.