Oncor Still Working To Restore Power In Some Areas
The sun is beginning to peek out from the clouds, melting some snow and ice, but temperatures remained below freezing late Friday morning. Hopkins County residents, along with those across North Texas, are still cautioned to be remain home if they can to avoid the patches of ice that remain on roadways. With temperatures only expected to be above freezing for a few hours, and overnight lows Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, expected to be in the teens with wind chills potentially making it feel like single digit or below temperature at daybreak, any wet roadways likely will refreeze into sheets of black ice, making travel especially treacherous over night.
Farmers Electric Cooperative Friday morning reported that all known outages had been addressed and power had been restored to the provider’s customers.
Oncor customers were not as fortunate. Oncor personnel, along with out of state utility partners, continued working to restore power for customers affected by the winter storm. Since the arrival of the storm, new outages have occurred due to trees and limbs falling under the weight of remaining ice buildup, wind conditions and hazardous roadways.
A total of 305 outages were reported to affect 7,519 of the 3,835,901 customers in Oncor’s service area at 11 a.m. Friday. Twenty minutes later, that number had increased to 311 outages, with 7,754 customers affected. In Hopkins County, 258 of Oncor’s 13,363 customers were without power at that time.
In hardest hit areas, Oncor reported Friday morning, workers maneuver treacherous roads, use chainsaws and heavy equipment to remove ice-covered trees and debris on powerlines, and work in sub-freezing temperatures to rebuild infrastructure and make repairs.
Hopkins County residents who encounter trees on county roads are encouraged to contact their county commissioner of the county dispatch so a road crew can be alerted to assist in removing the debris from the roadway.
The following weather-related closures, delays and schedule changes have been reported to KSST for the weekend of Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (To report a schedule change to KSST, send an email to [email protected].)
Friday, Feb. 4, 2022
- Alliance Bank locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4.
- City National Bank drive-thrus opened at 8 a.m. on Friday. All locations will close at 5 p.m.
- Saltillo ISD will have a 10 a.m. delayed start Friday, Feb. 4. In order to meet mandatory minutes required by TEA, Presidents Day will no longer be a school holiday. Saltillo ISD will have school Monday, Feb. 21. Saltillo ISD Class of 2002 will not be honored at Saltillo ISD Homecoming due to the weather and cancellation tonight; they will be honored with the Class of 2003.
- No trash trucks will run today because the landfill is closed. Trash truck will run commercial routes in Sulphur Springs Saturday and residential routes will resume on Monday.
- CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital Sulphur Springs cancelled this week’s COVID vaccine clinic that was schedule for Friday, Feb. 4, from 9 to 11 a.m. Clinics will resume as usual on Friday, Feb. 11, from 9 to 11 a.m.
- City of Sulphur Springs offices remains closed on Friday due to weather, according to the city manager. This includes City Hall (including the Municipal Court), City Utilities Office, Sulphur Springs Public Library, Municipal Airport and Senior Citizens Center closed Feb. 4, 2022. Sulphur Springs Fire Department and Police Department, utilities and public works personnel will still report for work Friday according to schedule.
- BINGO and Learning with Libby are cancelled on Friday, along with the Senior Citizens Center.
- All Hopkins County school districts and Yantis, Paris Junior College and Texas A&M University-Commerce and Dallas sites are closed on Friday, Feb. 4.
- Como-Pickton CISD varsity games will be rescheduled for make-up. Junior High and JV games will not. CPCISD will not have to make up Feb. 3-4. Classes will resume at normal time on Monday, Feb. 7.
- Although Hopkins County offices remain closed Friday due to the weather and road conditions, the on-duty sheriff’s office, fire department and road crews continue to work as assigned. All county offices are to re-open on Monday.
- Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Price urges county residents who are aware of trees down on county roads to contact him, their precinct commissioner or county dispatchers so a road crews can be dispatched to cut it up (if necessary) and get it taken care of today (Feb. 4). Trees felled by wind and/or the weight of ice were mainly in the Cumby area on Thursday.
- Meal A Day will not be cooking or delivering lunches on Friday. Meal A Day driver delivered cans of soup and stew to all of the seniors citizens on the Meal A Day routes Wednesday to provide them with something they can eat the rest of the week.
- The NETX Public Health District will NOT be providing pediatric or adult COVID vaccines Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Sulphur Springs.
Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
- Sulphur Bluff Basketball has been rescheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m.
- Trash trucks will run commercial routes in Sulphur Springs Saturday.
Monday, Feb. 7
Saltillo ISD Basketball games vs. Avinger have been rescheduled for February 7. Senior night for the Lady Lions will start at 5:25 p.m. The Lady Lions game starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Lions. Homecoming queen coronation will follow the Varsity Boys game.
Trash trucks will resume residential routes on Monday.
The Miller Grove basketball games originally scheduled against Savoy for Feb. 4 have been rescheduled for Monday, February 7 at 6 p.m., with Senior night for the girls occurring directly before their game and the boys following the girls game.
Tuesday, Feb. 8
North Hopkins ISD will resume classes Tuesday, February 8, as Monday is a scheduled non-school day for NHISD
Wednesday, Feb. 9
- North Hopkins ISD has rescheduled games and homecoming activities for Wednesday, Feb. 9.
For Additional Information
Those who have can are encouraged to stay home off the roads as the winter weather continues, with snow and sleet over a sheet of ice on roads, making some streets and highways slick as snot. At least one section of I-30 just east of Cumby was shut down as truckers had difficulties making it over the slick hill.
At 7:16 a.m. Thursday, HCSO reported road conditions had started to deteriorate, with trees and power lines down on the west side of Hopkins County. At 8:26 a.m., a tree had fallen across FM 275, North of Miller Grove.
Those who must be out on the roads can check current road conditions online at Texas Department of Transportation. Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office is also started posting updates Thursday morning on the department’s Facebook account of storm-related road issues.
Stay tuned to KSST Radio 1230 AM for updates on local weather conditions, or go online to the National Weather Service website.
