TYLER, Texas (KETK) — The wintry weather has created a domino effect, with much of East Texas feeling the effects of fallen power lines. Now, families with small children are feeling the impact.
As of Wednesday night at 10 p.m., more than 30% of Smith County was without power.
“Right now it’s… ‘Are we gonna have power? What do we do if we don’t have power? Where are we gonna put the baby?’ So you know its just hour by hour chaos,” said father of three, Michael Wesp.
Utility companies said the heavy layer of ice is taking down trees across East Texas. Many falling lines are cutting off electricity to customers.
“So we’ve got to go out there and remove the tree from the line. If there’s any damage to the wire, if it knocks it down, breaks the wire, breaks a pole, cross arms, then we have to replace the equipment as well,” said Oncor customer manager, Tom Trimble.
As trees continue to fall, outage reports flood Oncor’s system and families are left waiting in a home that gets colder every passing hour.
“What I am thinking about now is how are we going to sleep in the same room and actually get some sleep?” said Wesp.
Oncor has called in extra crews from across the state to help restore power more quickly.
He says if you don’t have power, to report it and do not assume your neighbor did.
“If your power is out and it’s been out for a while you need to find shelter. The city and other folks, churches will have places if they have electricity that you can go to,” said Trimble.
For the time being, the Smith County family, like so many others are in their houses just trying to pass the time, staying close to the fire, playing games, eating in the kitchen and staying in a small room.