The screenshot taken from the website of The Associated Press shows the picture and title of its report on Feb. 6, 2023 about the recent outage in Austin, Texas, the United States. (Xinhua)
At the peak of the outages, about 170,000 homes and businesses -- nearly a third of utility customers in Austin -- had no electricity, and in many cases, no heat.
NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Making any plans has been difficult and downright infuriating for nearly 20,000 customers who still had no electricity on Monday nearly a week after a deadly ice storm crippled Austin, capital of the southern U.S. state of Texas, and brought down power lines under the weight of fallen and frozen tree limbs.
Schools finally reopened, but noisy generators rattled before dawn and outdoor extension cords running 100 feet (30 meters) or longer became lifelines between neighbors who had power and those who didn't, according to a report of The Associated Press early this week.
"The boiling frustration over the slow pace of restoring power, and officials repeatedly saying they could not offer timetables for repairs, escalated Monday as the future of Austin's top city executive plunged into jeopardy even as the number of outages continued falling," noted the report.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson called a meeting that will put City Manager Spencer Cronk's job on the line, said the report, adding that the move reflected the rising discontent in the country's 11th-largest city, where late Sunday night, Austin Energy issued a statement that full power restoration may not happen until Feb. 12, nearly two weeks after the outages began.
At the peak of the outages, about 170,000 homes and businesses -- nearly a third of utility customers in Austin -- had no electricity, and in many cases, no heat, added the report.
Austin was hit by an ice storm late January and early February, the worst icing event in the region in more than 15 years, local media reported. ■
