The rampaging, almost unprecedented winter storm that socked the Permian Basin and most of Texas with ice, snow and bitterly cold gusts knocked out power in much of Odessa overnight Sunday into early Monday.
A spokesman for ONCOR reported at 10 a.m. Monday that chilled crews were working frenetically to restore power to the tens of thousands of homes and businesses that had been dark here since about 4 a.m.
“Due to the severity of electric generation shortfall, our expected outage length of 15 to 45 minutes has been significantly extended,” said ONCOR spokesman Gus Ortega. “Outages due to this electric emergency could last for hours and we ask you to be prepared.”
Referring to the crisis that had been termed “rotating outages” in a previous email from his company, Ortega said, “We are responding to separate outages caused by the record-breaking winter storm that continues to impact our entire service territory.
“We are doing everything possible to respond to each of these power emergency events. We remain in close coordination with ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we do all we can to protect the integrity of the Texas grid.”
City of Odessa spokeswoman Devin Sanchez said in a mid-morning interview that she had confirmed outages in the Oakwood-Tanglewood, JBS Parkway, Faudree, Shiloh Estates and Parks Bell Ranch areas.
“Most of Texas has been affected,” Sanchez said. “We have had tons of comments from citizens on the city’s Facebook page, but we have no control over it because we have no power, either. We feel this frustration.”
