DALLAS — Dallas County officials have issued a disaster declaration as tens of thousands of residents were without power Tuesday morning after severe storms rolled through the area.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins posted on X Tuesday that he anticipates a "multi day power outage for a significant number of Oncor customers." He signed a disaster declaration Tuesday morning, he announced at an 11:30 a.m. news conference.
Jenkins was joined at the news conference by Dallas County Emergency Management Chief Scott Forster and representatives from Oncor.
According to Oncor's outage map, more than 600,000 of their customers were without power across North Texas.
The outage map shows areas with the highest number of outages in In Dallas County. As of about 9:15 a.m. 357,727 customers were without power.
Jenkins said Oncor crews were on the ground in North Texas, trying to restore power beginning with critical infrastructure buildings. Jenkins said Carrollton Regional hospital might have lost power Tuesday morning, but all other county hospitals had power.
As for facilities like nursing homes, Jenkins said they should have power through backup generators.
Still, residents across the county should be prepared to be without power for several hours, if not multiple days, Jenkins said.
"That does not mean if your power is out right now, that it will be out for multiple days," Jenkins said. "It certainly could be out for multiple days."
Oncor official Grant Cruise said their crews were pre-positioned and responded immediately to the storm damage and outages.
Cruise confirmed that Oncor is expecting a "multi-day event" and he acknowledged the frustrating nature of situation. He asked residents to stay patient and stay off the road, allowing Oncor crews to respond to outages.
Cruise said there was a "significant number" of downed power lines.
"It's not going to be simple repairs," Cruise said. "We're looking at complete reconstruction for parts of our area."
Jenkins said officials do not expect any issues with water supply, despite the power outages.
Strong storms hit Dallas County around 6 a.m. Tuesday, prompting tornado warnings in the Richardson and Garland areas and high winds across North Texas. The storms left behind widespread damage, including downed power lines and uprooted trees, both of which were likely behind the power outages seen across Dallas County.
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