What to know about winter weather power outages
SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) — The lead up to to this week’s winter storm has many people remembering the deadly 2021 winter storm that left millions of Texans without power.
It’s a time Texans won’t forget. Winter Storm Uri led to hundreds of deaths.
Victims died from hypothermia, lack of medical care and carbon monoxide poisoning.
All tragedies linked to a catastrophic failure of the Texas power grid.
Ahead of this weekend’s approaching storm, there is hope on the horizon.
David McGinnis, CEO of Grayson-Collin Electrical Cooperative, said new state regulations are in place.
“Regulatory changes, some hardening of transmission, gas supply changes since ’21 so that the plants that run on natural gas have fuel supply, and they won’t go offline like they did five years ago,” stated McGinnis.
Local preparations are also underway from Plano to the Red River.
“Local outages will be more isolated in most cases,” McGinnis stated. “We actually prepare by season. Our load is 94% residential. We started winter preparedness in October. Hopefully if the ice doesn’t accumulate we’re ready for it!”
If freezing rain does accumulate, power lines can break or snap, causing outages.
“A half inch of ice on a powerline adds five to eight hundred pounds to that line,” said McGinnis. “Normally sleet and snow don’t accumulate on the powerlines as much, but if its freezing rain then we may have some issues.”
McGinnis said in the case your home or neighborhood experiences a power outage, don’t be alarmed if there aren’t electrical crews on sight. He said they will likely be working not too far away.
“Because if the substation is out, no need to go to an individual home until we get the power back up,” McGinnis said.
If you encounter a downed power line, do not touch it. Instead, report it immediately, and professionals will handle it safely.
If you lose heat there are places across Texoma to get warm. A list of warming centers can be found here.
Copyright 2026 KXII. All rights reserved.