8,000 Lose Power Wednesday Here

Crews from Fayette Electric Cooperative (FEC) braved some of the worst winter weather in memory to restore power across the coop’s seven-County service area this week.

While rolling blackouts caused by low power supply across the state affected many customers here, Mother Nature also took her toll. Heavy ice and falling trees knocked down power lines in many areas.

FEC reported more than 8,000 customers without power Wednesday morning due to weather-related outages.

Early in the week, Craig Moreau, Chief of Emergency Management for Fayette County, was urging everyone to stay off the roadways and check on neighbors, especially the elderly.

“We need to check on our older folks,” Moreau told the Record on Monday morning, Feb. 15. “Frequently call them or if you can, go by and check on them, see if they are OK and if they need anything. The power outages is our main worry for folks who depend on electricity for heat.”

On Sunday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) began asking consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible.

The record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures, multiple generating units that began tripping offline due to the severe cold weather caused ERCOT to issue an Energy Emergency Alert level 3. This is the third and highest level of emergency operations.

“Rotating outages began for FEC members early Monday morning and may continue through Tuesday. FEC had no control over the load reduction requirements, the areas impacted or the length of the outages. Some areas experienced multiple outages. Areas that were not impacted were areas that served critical infrastructure (hospitals) and emergency services,” said FEC General Manager Gary Don Nietsche.

Several inches of snow blanketed the County Monday morning.

Schools and many other businesses were already closed due to President’s Day. The H-E-B store and Walmart in La Grange were both closed Monday morning, along with many other convenience stores around town. Another round of icy precipitation began falling Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

Among the unusual sights around the area on Monday, Buckner’s Creek was beginning to ice over at the bridge on Country Club drive.