DALLAS — In North Texas, nearly 4 million people were without power as a winter storm warning stays in effect until Thursday and power outages are expected to continue.
One area of DFW where people have endured days without consistent electricity because of prolonged rolling blackouts is the city of Irving. Resident Keyley Elizabeth Walker hasn’t had more than 45 minutes of power a day at her apartment complex since early Saturday morning.
Like many trying to fight the cold, Walker and her 13-year-old daughter Ray have spent a lot of time keeping warm in their car. The warmest their home has gotten since they lost power is a chilly 45 degrees.
“It’s been miserable,” said Walker. “We can’t really be comfortable there, it’s very cold even under 10 blankets.”
Tuesday morning after driving around looking for food, Walker and her daughter chose a convenience store in Coppell, about 10 minutes from their apartment complex where they felt safe parking. They were just one of multiple cars parked running their engines with the same idea.
“We’ve seen families pull up next to us, they come out with snacks and food, and they’re sitting in the car trying to keep warm with little children,” she said. “The store has seen so much traffic, if you go inside it’s almost cleaned out.”
Walker says she and many of her neighbors have tried reaching out to their electricity provider Oncor to try and get answers with no luck.
“We were told by Oncor the power was only supposed to be off 15 minutes to an hour every day, so they said to report it if it’s been off longer. Well, they’re not doing anything,” she said.
On its website, Oncor tells customers there is no need to report outages at this time. The company says crews are working to fix what they can in an effort to distribute power when it's finally available.
Walker works as a DoorDash delivery driver and with many DFW restaurants closed and the ones opened closing early, she’s nervous her savings will be exhausted soon.
“The weather I can withstand, but the power is hard,” she said. “Not having the power on is stressful. Honestly, how am I going to keep gas in my car if I can’t go to work to keep us warm? It’s scary.”
Walker says she’s hoping for the best but preparing for the worst after reading a tweet from her energy company: "Customers, please be prepared for additional outages and stay weather aware due to an active Winter Storm Warning," Oncor tweeted Tuesday morning.
If you have an interesting story or an issue you’d like to see covered, let us know about it. Share your ideas with DFW reporter Lupe Zapata: Lupe.Zapata@Charter.com