HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo says less ice than expected formed overnight, but new threats are emerging as extreme cold is forecasted to continue.
“The good news is the precipitation is over and there’s less ice on the roads right now than we were expecting,” Hidalgo said. “Right now power is in a good and stable position.”
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She continued by saying she doesn’t want people to get too comfortable because things are going to change. She also says they have started to get more emergency calls now that people have started driving more on the roads.
“There have been people stuck on overpasses. There have single vehicle crashes. There have issues with 18-wheelers that got stuck because of the ice,” she said. “Since this ice, even though it’s less than we expected, it’s still there, my ask is if you can be home, great, that would be the best thing to do if you want to go out if you have to out. Stay off the highway. And stay off the bridges.”
Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said they had a few calls related to carbon monoxide alarms as well as two heat-related incidents involving chimneys, but no one was hurt in the incidents.
Paul Locke with CenterPoint Energy says as of 11:45 a.m., there were a total of 1,100 outages in Harris County. From Saturday at 6 p.m. to Sunday at 7 a.m., the company restored power to approximately 27,000 customers.
“Our focus now, we’re shifting our focus from the freezing rain to the hard freeze that’s coming up the next two days, and which could have some impact on our equipment. But we’ve got plenty of supplies in place if that’s the case to happen,” Locke said.
Officials urge people to continue to stay off the roadways, especially tonight as freezing temperatures will cause any liquid on the roads to refreeze.
“It may look dry, and at night, everything that looks shiny, it looks wet, is gonna be ice. It’s gonna be very hazardous, very dangerous for people to be out on the road. That’s why we’re recommending stay put,” said Harris County Emergency Manager Mark Sloan.