A Quarter Million Texans Are Still in the Dark Days After Ice Storm

More than 240,000 Texans were still without power after an ice storm swept through the state earlier this week, downing power lines and snapping heavy tree branches.

(Bloomberg) — More than 240,000 Texans were still without power after an ice storm swept through the state earlier this week, downing power lines and snapping heavy tree branches.

Most of the blackouts are in central and eastern counties of the state, according to PowerOutage.us. Austin Energy, which accounts for more than half of the current outages after restoring more than 172,000 customers, said the remaining outages were complex and asked consumers to be patient, according to tweets Friday.

The restoration effort is complicated by ongoing hazardous conditions, said Austin Energy. Line crews are facing ice sheets, freezing road conditions and tree branches that can snap back as they thaw. Ice build-up on high-voltage transmission lines has caused them to sag and disrupts power flow.

Temperatures will start to rise across much of Texas and the South Friday. In Dallas, temperatures are forecast to reach 44F (7C) and 56 on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Austin will get to 50 Friday and could be close to 70 on Sunday.

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