Severe weather causes thousands of power outages across Austin

Severe weather causes power outages

Severe weather in Austin caused thousands to lose power Wednesday night.

AUSTIN, Texas - Severe weather over the last 24 hours has caused thousands of power outages across Austin. 

Hundreds of linemen are headed to Austin to help restore service to those that are still in the dark.

Power outages across Austin

What we know:

A blackout in the city of Austin was caused by powerful storms, broken tree branches, and high winds, leaving thousands in the dark for hours.

"It's been a tremendous challenge, one because when that microburst hit late last night, it then immediately was followed by darkness. And there was a ton of devastation out there that until we saw the light of day, we couldn't accurately assess," said Austin Energy spokesperson Matt Mitchell.

Austin Energy reports more than 72,000 homes were without power Wednesday night. 

Crews have been working around the clock to get the electricity up and running.

Customers frustrated by continued outages

Local perspective:

A row of homes on Shoal Creek Boulevard has been without power for nearly 24 hours, waiting for Austin Energy to restore services.

"We have dogs and animals and stuff. So that is inconvenient, but we've had our power go out a lot," said North Austin resident Carlene Wegmann-Todd.

Austin Energy has also been running into issues with customers frustrated by the outages.

"Ourselves, and like four more of our neighbors. We've been very frustrated because we can't get straight answers. Apparently, they think that they've already fixed our two down lines. When we call, they're telling us some of the times when we call and there are five of us that have been communicating that it's already fixed and it is not," said Wegmann-Todd.

"None of this is happening as quickly as any of us would like it to. It's a tremendous challenge because it's across our entire service territory and as you can see every situation is a little bit different," said Mitchell.

What you can do:

Mitchell says the frustration is sparked by nested outages in the area as residents would receive a text saying their power had been restored and it was not.

"Respond to that text message with 'out' or you can report it again on the outage map, because that probably indicates a nested outage, something that's more specific to your area," said Mitchell.

What's next:

As of Thursday afternoon, the lights were back on for more than 50,000 customers and, according to Austin Energy, there are mutual aid crews heading into Austin to assist with restoring service.