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Arctic Freeze In The Woodlands Emergency News & Updates

By: Billy Adams
| Published 02/15/2021

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The Woodlands, TX - Check back frequently for ongoing updates to the weather conditions in The Woodlands or visit our Facebook page at - https://www.facebook.com/WoodlandsOnline

Click here to view 2021 Snow Photos of The Woodlands submitted by area residents

With the temperature at extreme lows, we want to keep you up-to-date with ongoing issues regarding road conditions, power outages as well as direct you to emergency service providers.


Road Closures:

Click here to view closed roads

- Mark Keough County Judge Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/countyjudgekeough

Mark Keough Statements:

4:41pm on 2/16

Entergy Update:

Wrapping up a call with entergy. Now for some good news.

Generation at the power plants have been nearly fully restored. Power regulators have rescinded their call for load shed in our region which has allowed entergy to bring power restoration to more customers in our area.
Entergy has several sub station breakers that are in the process of being switched back on that will bring several large pockets of power back to some remaining areas. They expect these breakers to be restored by 6pm.

During the call they talked about having approximately 35,000 additional customers in Montgomery County that will have locally damaged or malfunctioning power distribution equipment at the neighborhood level. Crews are still out and they plan to work through the night to continue restoring them.

Entergy has taken additional measures to winterize the generation units at much higher level than what was in place prior to the failure as the weather is expected to get worse tonight. Additional crews have been brought into the area to work on the current outages and they’re holding them in case the weather tonight brings new challenges to the distribution system with icing.

Summary: for entergy customers the vast majority should be restored this evening if not already. 35,000 customers approximately are still out and will require local crews to repair and correct malfunctioning equipment locally. Entergy crews will work through the night to attempt to restore as many of these customers as possible.
As of right now entergy does not anticipate any additional rolling outages. But did stress if any loss of generation occurs rolling outages could restart.

I will work to get updates from CenterPoint and bring an update as I can for those customers.

8am on 2/16

The Woodlands, TX - Just finished up a call with Entergy. They continue to work on restoring power generation. One plant is nearly to 100%. The larger and newer plant is not fully restored and they continue to work on getting it back to full load.

Overnight Entergy found several customers, more than 45,000 in Montgomery County who locally have some frozen service equipment and sub stations that will not come online when the rolling power program cycles on. Entergy is working with crews in the field to correct and work on these localized problems.

Until generation is back to 100% output rolling outages will continue. I was told if you have had power restored and then it went off you are in the rolling outage program to ensure as many customers as they can energize receive power in blocks. Those rolling on and off power will continue. If you did not receive any restoration yesterday or overnight you are likely in a service area that has malfunctioning equipment locally at the neighborhood level that will need to be worked on today. Entergy has crews in the field working on the list of distribution issues but there was no timeline for completion given this morning.

Summary: Two things still affecting restoring power to all customers. 1) power generation is still reduce due to catastrophic failure of the generators. Restoration is ongoing but not back to 100% yet. 2) Entergy attempted to turn power back on under the rolling program and some areas (45,000) customers approximately were unsuccessful due to local equipment malfunctions. Entergy crews are in the field working on those malfunctions.

I will be following up with Entergy throughout the day and bring updates as I get them.
Weather update: Later this evening we are expected to receive another front which will bring additional rain/freezing rain as temperatures fall tonight. This will make roadways overnight and into tomorrow dangerous to travel on. With the current ice and snow on the roads there will be limited treatments available to help mitigate further icing. Please use caution on all roadways today, avoid unnecessary travel and overnight tonight into tomorrow avoid traveling until temperatures rise above freezing.

5:09pm on 2/15

Just received another update from Entergy:

From Sallie Rainer, CEO of Entergy

Per the request on the call at 2 pm today, I have an update on the progress of returning our generating units to service. Our Lewis Creek Unit 2 is now back on line adding 225 MW to our grid. Our Montgomery County Power Station (MCPS) is in startup and progressing nicely, it is producing over 100 MW right now, but still has several critical steps to reach its full output of close to 1000 MW. As of now, we expect MCPS to reach full output around 7 PM or so.
Due to these additional generating resources coming back on we have been able to reduce the amount of load we have been curtailing. Earlier today MISO directed us to curtail 800 MW and we are now allowed to reduce that to 500 MW.

This means we can start bringing the customers who have been the longest without power first. We expect to work through restoration over the next few hours.

We will then move into rolling outages as we will have more room to roll customers off and on. This will continue until we get MCPS up to full output.

I expect to have another update and call with Entergy at 7:30 tonight.

2:28pm on 2/15
'After a 2 pm call with Entergy here is an update. Entergy continues to work towards bringing online the three power generators in Willis which failed this morning due to freezing. Rolling outages will continue until power is restored to the grid.

I asked about getting houses who have been offline the longest back online first and was assured that was their goal. While Entergy is hopeful restoration or at least partial restoration will come back online this evening they still caution its not a certainty at this time.

Entergy has asked if you have power to conserve as much as you can now. When power does come online they also ask that we conserve as much as we can to allow more customers to come online as possible.'


7:47am on 2/15
'Just got off a briefing with Entergy. Entergy’s western territory which encompasses anything west of the Trinity River has suffered a major generation failure. The new Montgomery County plant has been shut off due to icing. Currently the plant is back in start up mode and is generating some power but not fully restored. They hope to have this plan back to 100% by 9:30 this morning.

The two generators at Lewis Creek have also suffered shut downs due to instrumentation failure due to icing. Entergy is working on thawing and getting them back online.

Once generation is restored this morning we should start to see power restored.
Thankfully they don’t have power line distribution issues and the outages are due to power plant failures.
Entergy asked us to get out the word that when power is restored please conservae as much energy as possible for the first few hours to allow the grid to stabilize.'

6:34am on 2/15

'From Entergy: We were notified by our grid operator, MISO, to begin periodic power outages to maintain the safety and stability of the power grid. We will update you as soon as we have more information on the outage duration. We apologize for the inconvenience. We are working to repair damages and restore our system to normal grid operations as soon as possible.'

3am on 2/15
'All roads in Montgomery County are virtually impossible to travel at this time. Please do not get out on the roads for any reason unless it’s an emergency.'


Power Outages:

- View Power Outages for Entergy
https://www.etrviewoutage.com/map?state=TX&_ga=2.63575528.671184267.1613397583-1034048455.1613397583

Update from Entergy on Texas Winter Storm - 11:30am
https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=69223

Entergy's Press Release about periodic power outages
https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=69220&fbclid=IwAR0-qtVKC5qbmfhYb3UXd3U619C62ea_tKm_8qzZYwnhQUNvj4zWxnRktoQ

List of Electricity providers and numbers of outages for Montgomery County:
https://poweroutage.us/area/county/1443

- Entergy Storm Center
https://www.entergynewsroom.com/storm-center/


CenterPoint Energy
https://www.facebook.com/CenterPointEnergy


Trash Pickup:

Per The Woodlands Township -

- No trash service on Monday, trash delayed through rest of week

https://www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=8657&fbclid=IwAR2kgMEJhmnucGyoSpDKhsgLNizHxsgG5TihPye14g7xhpvIWKEpaS7tmr4


Warming Centers

Church Project located at 602 Pruitt Rd, 77380 is open as a warming center available for anyone seeking refuge from power outages.They have been adequately resourced by MOCO Office of Emergency Management, MOCO Food Bank and the American Red Cross so do not need donations at this time. They are operating 24/7 though Tuesday.


Madeley Ranch Elementary School in Walden.
3500 Madeley Ranch Rd
Montgomery, TX 77356
Because of the circumstances, services will be limited. Please bring:
Masks
Blankets
Food/drink (no cooling/heating for food will be available)
MEDICATION
A big shout out to Dr Heath Morrison who has compassionately waived the restrictions on bringing pets. If you do bring your pet, they must be leashed (or otherwise restrained) at all times and you are responsible for all aspects of their care and cleanup. Please bring bowls and food for your furry friends.


Over Under Church
600 S. Frazier St, Conroe.


City of Shenandoah Council Chambers
29955 I-45, Shenandoah, TX 77380
Staff is opening the Council Chambers as a warming center at 4 pm for Shenandoah residents to come to get warm, charge cell phones, take a nap, or fill water bottles if needed.
City Hall is under generator power at this time and will provide a warm space. There may be many people there, so residents will need to bring masks so that people can do social distancing as much as possible in the circumstances.
You will need to bring the things that you will need with you. There are no real facilities to do cooking, but we have microwaves if you need to heat something. If you need a napping spot for little ones, bring bedding as we have no cots available. Bring your cell chargers with you.


Salvation Army
304 Avenue E, Conroe, TX 77301


Wildwood Methodist Church
8911 FM 1488, Magnolia, TX 77354


Hour by Hour weather tracking for The Woodlands - Weather.com
https://weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/l/012c07ce328534d858368b86e80eb10233c7a053559972bce2ef9c67b173dc58


Service Provider Recommendations:

Plumbing Issues - McKinley Plumbing Services

Central Heating Issues - Hal Watson Air Conditioning

Sprinkler System Issues - M & D Sprinklers


Click here to view 2021 Snow Photos of The Woodlands submitted by area residents

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