Icy trees have caused massive power outages in Austin, Texas.

Ice-covered trees have been blamed for massive power outages in Austin, Texas this week. More than a hundred thousand households lost electricity for a day.



AISHA RASKO, HOST:

Austin, Texas is experiencing massive power outages this week following an ice storm. And, according to radio station KUT member Moze Buchele, there are now questions about why the hurricane hit the electrical system so hard.

MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Earlier this week, two sounds characterized life in Austin: the crackling of ice in tree branches…

(SOUND OF CRACKING ICE)

BUCHEL: And an ominous roar as those limbs hit the ground.

(SOUND OF TREE FALLING VILLAS)

BUCHEL: Broken trees are what caused most of the outages here, which Austin Energy CEO Jackie Sargent called a historic weather event.

(SOUND FROM ARCHIVE RECORDING)

JACKIE SERGEANT: We’re experiencing one of the worst ice storms in Austin, and certainly one of the worst.

BUCHELE: But ice storms like this are rare. To answer why this was such a bad time, some point to a change in city policy about 15 years ago that loosened tree-trimming rules around power lines. Michael Webber is a UT professor of mechanical engineering who at the time served on the Austin Public Utilities Commission. He says the change comes after politically connected neighborhoods complained that the city is being too aggressive when it comes to managing vegetation.

MICHAEL WEBBER: They didn’t want the city to touch their beautiful trees in their yards.

BUCHEL: For years, the utility has allowed trees to grow much closer to the lines, which is the industry standard. Finally, in 2019, the course has changed. Elton Richards, who runs the utility’s vegetation management program, says it will take years to go back and clear the overgrown strips. But lax pruning standards don’t explain the extent of the damage.

ELTON RICHARDS: It’s really an act of God. There is no other way to say it. You take a 40 foot tree. It’s going down. There is no vegetation management in the world that could prevent this.

BUCHEL: Austin has experienced a string of extreme weather events recently, from a major Arctic explosion in 2021 to drought and heat waves last year. Even January of this year, up until the ice storm, was one of the warmest on record in Austin. Tree experts say that all these extremes have a cumulative effect on weakened trees. Camille Wiseman is a forest ecologist with the Texas A&M Forest Service.

CAMILLA WISEMAN: In addition to the ice accumulating, those weaknesses are kind of highlighted. And that’s what can lead to some of these gaps.

BUCHELE: Power outages have sparked new debate about the benefits of burying power lines. Austin Energy says it’s too expensive. But Michael Webber thinks it could make financial sense.

WEBBER: Closing schools or economic activities for four days in a row is very costly and very disruptive. Then we tend not to factor in the cost of failures or lack of reliability in our analysis.

BUCHELE: As this debate unfolds, the city is taking over a new sound…

(CHAINSAW SOUND)

BUCHELE: …The sound of a chainsaw as crews clean up the mess. For NPR news, I’m Mose Buchel from Austin.

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