Dallas businesses battle multiple days of closure amid power outages

Over 200,000 North Texans remained without power on Wednesday. Oncor announced that its crews are working 16-hour shifts to restore electricity, but they estimate that most will have power back by late Friday, with some possibly waiting until Saturday.

This uncertainty is challenging for both homeowners and businesses unable to operate.

At Olmo Market in Oak Cliff, the power outage is not only a waiting game but also a race against time and rising temperatures.

“We have been without power for going on 24 hours at this point,” said Cindy Pedraza, co-owner of both Olmo and CocoAndre Chocolatier.

Since Tuesday morning’s storms, Pedraza’s urgency to save the chocolate has grown.

“It was starting to feel pretty muggy. As soon as the temperature hit 86, you could feel it in here. It got to 76, which is still ok for chocolate, but that’s when we started to get a little scared,” she explained.

With the news that power might not return until Friday or Saturday, employees quickly secured a generator, fans, and a portable air conditioning unit.

Next door, Herby’s Burgers employees are also working to prevent losses.

“We started out as pop-up style, so it’s pretty easy for us to just pivot back into that,” said general manager Olivia Hargrave.

For several hours, employees relied on a propane-powered grill to keep the restaurant open, serving burgers, chips, and soda under a tent outside the newly opened establishment.

“We’re just trying to make the best of it, still trying to feed everybody, still trying to go through everything,” Hargrave said.

Pedraza has already had to cancel one upcoming event and hopes she won’t have to cancel another.

“Losing a few days as a small business feels like losing a month of work,” she said.

For now, all they can do is wait.