Austin Water says he doesn’t have a schedule for when service will be restored

Lee is this story in Spanish.

Winter weather is leaving the area, but cold temperatures will remain for the next few days. This afternoon, Austin broke the all-time record for the longest consecutive period below zero: 140 hours. This record was set in 1983.

A strong freeze warning will be in effect until 10 am on Friday, but the area could finally go above zero at some point on Friday afternoon.

The NWS says travel remains dangerous because of icy conditions and has encouraged people to stay off the road. If you need to drive, check the current road conditions here before you leave.

Additional power outages are possible because branches and ice overload power lines.

Warmer weather is expected on Saturday, and temperatures could reach 50 and 60 next week, says the NWS.

Follow updates on the winter storm throughout the day at the KUT newsroom. Find the latest tweets from the National Weather Service at the bottom of this post.

Update at 8:30 pm – APH cancels COVID test and vaccines for Friday.

All Austin Public Health’s COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites will remain closed on Friday, the agency said. APH said it is not known when vaccines will be resumed, but that people with current commitments will be contacted to reschedule.

“We know that these are challenging times, as our team, their families and our entire community are struggling with climate problems,” said APH director Stephanie Hayden-Howard in a press release. “We guarantee that as soon as we can safely give the vaccine again, we will notify the public.”

APH also said it will not update the COVID-19 panels until at least Saturday.

The moving average of new coronavirus hospitalizations was 41 when the data was last updated on Monday. Last week, Acting Director of Health, Dr. Mark Escott, said the Austin area was on track to reduce the level of risk in early March. But it is not clear now whether the loss of energy to hundreds of thousands of Austin residents will have an adverse effect on local dissemination and data collection.

8 pm update – Restoring water will be a ‘multi-day’ process

After many Austin residents spent days without power, city officials now say that many should prepare for days without water. At a news conference on Thursday, Austin water director Greg Meszaros said there was still much work to be done to restore service.

“It will be a multi-day process to restore pressure and service,” he says. “Customers who don’t have water, it’s better to plan for the worst conditions: days without water, instead of hours.”

Meszaros says it is difficult to give an exact timetable because the agency does not know where or how bad the leaks are inside the reservoirs. These reservoirs usually hold about 100 million gallons of water or about a day of water use in Austin.

At its lowest point, he said, the reserves were almost empty.

“The water in our reservoirs was drained essentially on the last day,” he said. “We have to put these reservoirs back into service and that will take time.”

More from NUT Hamdan from KUT here.

17:10 update – Job search requirement for unemployment benefits waived

The Texas Labor Force Commission is waiving the job search requirement for all claimants this week and the next, due to the severe weather.

Claimants will not be penalized for not looking for work during those two weeks, and the Workforce Commission will reverse any refusals to pay in accordance with the job search requirement.

4:20 pm update – Palmer Center reaches maximum capacity

Austin’s emergency heating facility at the Palmer Events Center reached its maximum capacity this morning and was unable to accommodate more people.

The city said it was still limited room available at Del Valle High School, Mendez Middle and Reilly Elementary. The Austin Disaster Relief Network has a group of religious sites that serve as shelters here.

Austin ISD has daytime heating centers in: Lee Elementary, Murchison Middle, Joslin Elementary and Barrington Elementary.

4 pm update – Austin Energy says 90% of customers have power

Austin Energy says it continues to restore power in more locations as the situation improves. As of 4 pm, 90% of customers had energy; 42,000 customers remain without power.

Austin Energy says it is prioritizing customers who have been without power for the longest time and focusing on the largest groups of outages.

All customers are still being asked to save energy.

10:29 AM update – Austin Water says it doesn’t have a timetable for when service will be restored

Austin Water says its treatment plants are stable, but the utility is “facing significant challenges” to restore water throughout the system. On a series of tweets this morning, Austin Water said there is no deadline for people to get their water back.

Austin has been under a boiling water warning across the city since last night, but many people are under low water pressure or running water. Read more about the outage and what you need to do here. Parts of Williamson and Hays counties are also experiencing water problems.

To report a water or sewage emergency, or to report a major spill or leak, complete this Austin Water form.

On a Facebook Live last night, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the water problems could last as soon as the weather warms up and the pipes start to melt.

“It is predicted that some of the people in our city will come across water pipes that show leakage – you wouldn’t see that now because the water pipe is frozen,” said Adler.

The city is advising people to locate their shut-off valve now so they can be ready to turn it off if there is a leak. Adler said it is also recommended to contact a plumber now and, if you need repairs, keep your receipts.

Homeowner and renter insurance generally covers these costs. Uninsured persons may qualify for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Update at 8:27 am – ERCOT states that most customers across the state can have their power restored; Austin Energy outages drop to less than 80,000

The Texas grid operator says most customers can have their power restored, but emergency conditions remain in place.

The Texas Electric Reliability Council, or ERCOT, said in a statement this morning that people still without power are likely to fall into one of three categories:

• Areas hit by ice storm damage
• Areas without power because of the statewide power emergency that now need a team to go to the site to manually restore electricity
• Large industrial facilities that voluntarily turn off the power to help conserve energy

“It is possible that some level of rotary interruptions will be needed in the coming days to keep the network stable,” said ERCOT.

As for Austin Energy’s customers, more than 73,000 of the dealer’s consumers are currently without power, according to their outage map – below 220,000+ in previous days.

6:29 AM update – 88,000 Austin Energy customers out of power this morning

A little more than 88,000 Austin Energy customers are still without power on Thursday, compared to 200,000 or more customers without energy in the previous days.

Austin Energy said on Wednesday that ERCOT has given permission to restore power to some customers. The concessionaire says it is prioritizing customers who have been without power for longer.

5:42 am update – Austin Public Health, Hays County closes all vaccination and testing sites COVID-19

Austin Public Health closed all COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites on Thursday. The APH says it will reschedule or contact the people whose vaccine appointments should take place when the centers are closed.

Hays County says that anyone scheduled for a second-dose Pfizer vaccine this week will be rescheduled for next week. Public health officials say these people will receive a call or email from Hays County about the rescheduling. All Hays County Dressing COVID-19 test sites are closed until Friday, but will reopen on Saturday if conditions have improved enough.

5:06 am update – AISD cancels classes for the rest of the week

The Austin Independent School District says it will remain closed until Friday, except for essential personnel. The district initially planned to do asynchronous learning (where students learn at their own pace) on Friday. But in a letter on Wednesday, superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said that is no longer the case.

AISD has transformed several campuses into daytime heating centers for anyone in need. For information on the location, opening hours and other shelters in the city near you, click here.

4:45 am update – UT Austin, ACC, Texas State extends campus closure

UT Austin announced that the campus is closed until at least Monday at 8 am. All classroom and virtual classes and events will be canceled during this period. UT Austin officials say some activities on campus may resume over the weekend. The university will monitor the situation and reopen if conditions are safe.

Austin Community College is closed until Sunday. All classroom and remote classes and all assignments are canceled.

Texas State University campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock are closed until Saturday at 8 am

The extreme climate is affecting operations in the area. Here are some updates from the past 24 hours:

• Austin Water issued a citywide boiling water warning because of a loss of energy at the Ullrich treatment plant and a drop in water pressure. Find more about the warning here. Parts of Williamson and Hays counties are also experiencing water problems.
• The South Austin Medical Center in St. David is sending some patients home and transferring others because of widespread water problems. Dell Children’s patients were instructed not to bathe and that toilets cannot flush.