Power Outage in Cisco, TX

Extreme cold gripped the county for several days. Overnight lows were near or below 15 degrees Fahrenheit almost all week. The period of February 15-16th was the coldest with low temperatures in the single digits to -8 degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum temperature on the 15th was only around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind chill values during the 14th-16th were between 0 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time. The cold temperatures resulted in an extreme amount of damage to pipes, infrastructure, and power. According to the DSO at the time of this publication, over 6500 residences and business were affected or damaged with varying degrees of damage.

Emergency management reported several areas of icy trees and power lines, with numerous power disruptions due to ice.

A grass fire broke out on FM 156 north of Eastland. The fire damaged power lines and burned a tank battery.

Power lines were blown down in Cisco. The local emergency manager estimated a 60 mph wind gust.

Lightning knocked out power to the county's dispatch center, forcing employees to move to another building.

Strong winds gusting to between 50 and 60 MPH caused several incidents of wind damage. A huge cloud of dust overspread the county, causing visibilities to fall dramatically. Power lines were blown down, causing an oilfield tank battery to catch on fire.

Power outages were reported in Gorman, Cisco, and Carbon as power lines fell over due to the weight of ice. Numerous accidents were reported along Interstate 20 near Ranger.

Power poles and street lights blown down in Eastland, Cisco, and Ranger.

Freezing rain and sleet began around mid afternoon, then became mixed with snow late Tuesday night.Eastland reported 1 inch of sleet and snow. Numerous accidents occurred on area highways, and by Wednesday night 20 to 30 people were stranded on interstate 20. There were power outages from power lines downed due to ice accumulations.