The mayor of Austin, Texas, responded to mounting criticism and apologized Friday for a lack of communication with residents as a winter storm coated the city in ice and cut power — and heat — to thousands of residents for days.
The weather finally started to moderate Friday and bring some relief to frustrated Texans, particularly in Austin, where at any given time 30% of customers in the city of nearly a million were without electricity since the storm hit early this week.
“The city let its citizens down. The situation is unacceptable to the community, and it’s unacceptable to me,” Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “And I’m sorry.”
Nearly 122,000 customers remained without power late Friday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
Meanwhile, a new wave of frigid weather that forecasters warned could be the coldest in decades began rolling into the Northeast, leading communities to close schools and open warming centers. Wind chills in some higher elevations could punch below minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius).
In Texas, Austin officials compared damage from fallen trees and iced-over power lines to tornadoes as they came under criticism for slow repairs and shifting timelines to restore power. Nearly 240,000 customers across the state lacked power early Friday, down from 430,000 on Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.
