Jago Times "English Edition" Best Online Newspaper
Oncor says last week’s series of thunderstorms that wreaked havoc across North Texas was the worst in the utility company’s 112-year history.
The electric delivery company said Thursday that while the May 28 storm was second-worst in terms of the 650,000 outages reported, it was tops when considering both the outages and the damage done to equipment and facilities needing repair.
Waves of additional thunderstorms that followed Tuesday brought more soaking rain and then flooding. The downpours then damaged more equipment, knocked even more people offline, and led to a cascading effect of prolonged delays in restoring electrical service, the company said.
In Dallas County, the company said North Dallas, East Dallas and Mesquite were among the hardest-hit areas.
Dallas City Councilwoman Paula Blackmon, who represents District 9 in East Dallas, is calling on Oncor to investigate everything that led to prolonged power outages.
‘While we appreciate the work done in the aftermath of the storms, our East Dallas community experienced a significant impact to their quality of life during their loss of power,’ the memorandum reads. ‘We would like to understand what happened and how we can work together to create a resilient community.’
Hillside Neighborhood resident Bruce Applequist said his home was without power for five days. Luckily, he and his wife packed up their medications and headed to their son’s home.
The $200 worth of groceries in their refrigerator and freezer went to waste, but they were safe and in the air conditioning instead of the stifling heat. Applequist would drive by the back of his house to see if the lights were back on and time and time again, he drove away disappointed.
“We looked across the street and the people across had power,” he remembers. “We thought it was just a temporary kind of thing, but it wasn’t.”
Applequist doesn’t recall any power lines or trees falling nearby in the torrential rains, making him wonder what the issue was.
“If it was on account of trees or if it was on account of lines that broke on their own telephone poles, I don’t know,” he said.
Those are the kinds of questions Blackmon would like answers to, as well.
She is asking Oncor to provide details on the extent of damage done to infrastructure in East Dallas, crew deployment and response times, communication protocols during emergencies, and any measures being implemented to prevent similar delays in the future.
“The intent with this is to look at what we did well, what we can do better, and are there places where we can improve our infrastructure,” said Blackmon in an interview with NBC 5. “This is in no way saying someone failed and you succeeded. It is truly looking at: What we need to do to work better, not harder.”
Blackmon pointed to two examples related to the storm: Despite accessing Oncor’s power outage map, she’d like more specific locations experiencing large outages to more quickly facilitate city resources like cooling centers for residents.
“We didn’t know where the specific hotspots were, so to speak, as far as who is out of power,” she said.
Another improvement she hopes leaders can come up with revolves around debris removal.
“If we’re out there cutting trees and moving things off the road,” she said. “I heard some alleyways may need some trimming back so they could get to the lines. If we have a crew out there, why don’t we just do it so their crew can just get through? I’m just really looking to brainstorm to look at how to work better and not harder.”
A spokesperson for Oncor said in a statement: ‘In many of these communities, the outages were among the most complex and time-consuming and required the reconstruction of distribution equipment and replacement of utility poles and transformers.’
The company acknowledged its notification system experienced a problem, adding, ‘We actively worked to correct it and offered alternative options for customers to report outages and receive more information.’
Oncor said that throughout the storm, representatives communicated with and provided updates to city staff and council members, which Blackmon did not dispute.
“It’s not about pointing blame, it’s really about working smarter,” said Blackmon. “We have limited resources, there’s going to be more frequencies of these storms, so how do we work together to get us through to the other side?”
Applequist and his neighbor said they supported their council member’s inquiry on their behalf.
“Sure, I’d like to know what exactly it was,” said Applequist.
At its peak, Oncor deployed 12,000 employees, contractors, and mutual assistance personnel to restore power. In less than 24 hours, more than 340,000 outages were restored, according to the company.
A spokesman for the company said Oncor previously scheduled meetings with several council members to provide a post-storm briefing and respond to concerns.
Blackmon said she has a meeting with Oncor representatives this month and will work to schedule a community meeting on the subject.