The Brownsville Public Utilities Board says it’s busy preparing for the arctic weather expected to descend on deep South Texas late Thursday and early Friday.
Among the items on BPUB’s to-do list are ensuring that all vehicles and equipment are fueled and/or charged up, assigning additional standby personnel, deploying tree-trimmers to parts of town where trees are a problem during bad weather, checking insulation on all lines at BPUB water plants, and reviewing all emergency procedures.
The Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has said the coming cold snap could result in record winter electricity use. BPUB said it will keep customers informed of “any changes or requests in the ERCOT system,” including service interruptions or recommendations. ERCOT said the grid is in good shape to handle the bout of frigid weather, unlike February 2021 when Winter Storm Uri paralyzed the state and nearly collapsed the grid.
BPUB encouraged its customers to prepare for the coming cold by protecting faucets, outdoor pipes and exposed pipes in unheated areas. This can be done by wrapping them with plastic foam, trash bags, rags or even newspaper. The utility also recommended that customers open cabinets under sinks in kitchens and bathrooms to allow warm indoor air to circulate around the water pipes, and allow indoor faucets to drip when it’s expected to freeze.
“Make sure you have a manual can opener, batteries and flashlight in case of an outage,” BPUB advised. “Never operate a generator inside a home or enclosed space such as a garage.”
The latter can be deadly. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that about 70 people die each winter from carbon monoxide poisoning associated with generators in enclosed spaces.
Amber McGinnis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Brownsville-Rio Grande Station, said the coming cold snap isn’t likely to be as extreme as Winter Storm Uri but is “definitely something everybody needs to take very seriously.”
The biggest difference between this (and Uri), while it’s going to be cold and we’re going to get the freezing temperatures, it’s not going to be the long duration below freezing like we saw then,” she said. “During the day on Friday most locations should rise above freezing, so they’ll be a bit of a break. Of course the overnights we’re still going to expect freezing temperatures really through the weekend, but the daytime temperatures will rise above freezing. … While it’s a long duration cold event, we’re not going to have 24 or 48 hours below freezing temperatures.”
McGinnis also recommended having extra blankets, covering cold-sensitive outside plants and keeping pets indoors when it’s freezing.
“Pets really should not be outside at all during this,” she said.
The meteorologist said she’s keeping her fingers crossed that no service interruptions will occur but “keeping my blankets ready” just in case.
AEP Texas, which owns power lines that deliver electricity but doesn’t generate or sell it, said it is likewise preparing for the cold weather by checking its infrastructure and equipment and putting extra crews on standby. In the event of an extended power outage, the company recommended that customers on life support or other medical equipment “have a backup plan.”
AEP also encouraged utility customers to practice energy efficiency during the extreme weather by lowering thermostats a few degrees and wearing a sweater. Utility customers can sign up for outage alerts at AEPTexas.com, which also features a real-time outage map.
BPUB customers with questions can call (956) 983-6121. To report an outage, customers call (956) 983-6300 or go to assist.brownsville-pub.com.
