A city report from November 2021 reviewing Austin's response to the 2021 winter storm hammered the city's lack of planning, but particularly its history of lackluster communication skills during an emergency event.
Sign up for The Brief
“By having a black hole in communications, unfortunately, the city of Austin has set themselves up for a narrative that they can’t deliver on the services,” said Steven Pedigo, the director of the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ Urban Lab, which focuses on urban policy. “We had hoped to make more progress today on restorations and that simply has not happened,” Austin Energy general manager Jackie Sargent said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. “We understand that this makes an already challenging situation even more difficult. We have more than 100 crews and additional resources headed to our area to assist with restoration efforts.”
The reporting tool was back up and running Thursday. Sargent said the utility’s system was overwhelmed by the “unusually high” volume of inquiries from residents Wednesday, but it has since worked to manage the demand for information. But while the local power outages in 2023 are different from the blackouts in February 2021, emergency communication has been a problem in both crises. During Winter Storm Uri — when millions of people lost access to power and water amid record-low temperatures — the Texas Division of Emergency Management failed to send out cellphone notifications via the national Emergency Alert System.
“If there were problems in communication or early warning … we don’t expect to see the same problems crop up in the new disaster,” said Irwin Redlener, a senior research scholar at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. “You worry about negligence.” “It’s just crisis after crisis that’s happened in such a short term that you would imagine that we would have some sort of a communication plan,” Pedigo said. “It just doesn’t seem like we’ve gotten there.”
When she tried reporting through the company’s website again, she received a pop-up message about the system not being available “due to maintenance,” according to a screenshot she shared.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Austin police investigating bank robbery near UT AustinPolice are investigating a bank robbery near the UT Austin campus.
Leer más »
Space heaters cause fires in East Austin and Northeast Austin, AFD saysAustin firefighters say two fires this morning have been caused by space heaters located too close to combustibles.
Leer más »
Texas winter weather: DoorDash suspends operations in AustinThe food delivery service is suspending its operations in Austin for 24 hours due to the severe winter weather.
Leer más »
More than 150,000 Austin Energy customers are without power as a winter storm hits Central TexasDowned power lines and icy conditions have knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of customers in the Austin area. No statewide power grid issues have been reported.
Leer más »
More than 170,000 Austin Energy customers lost power as a winter storm hits Central TexasResidents in Travis County Water District 10, around West Lake Hills, have been asked to conserve water because of a power outage at the McConnel Pump Station. The county said Austin Energy is working to restore service.
Leer más »
Editorial: UH has earned Texas' respect — and a $1 billion endowmentOnly the University of Texas and Texas A&M have access to the Permanent University...
Leer más »