Williamson County Closed In The Midst Of Historic Cold Front

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — Williamson County offices will be closed on Tuesday due to continuous impacts from frigid cold throughout the area, officials said.

Essential personnel will still report for duty, officials said, but the Williamson County Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled.

Residents are encouraged to remain indoors and use the county’s online services that are being offered in various departments. To access the latest information from each department, visit www.wilco.org. Residents who absolutely must drive are asked to watch for slick road conditions on elevated surfaces, slow down and keep plenty of distance with other cars.

Guadalupe Street at 31st Street, facing south, was stilled by snow and a low temperature of 15 degrees late Monday morning. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Officials said the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) continues to lead the county’s response efforts and is working closely with local partners, including the school districts, the National Weather Service and cities, regarding the developing weather conditions. Each entity is making decisions based on many factors with safety being the top consideration, officials added. Residents are urged to check with each entity for changes in hours of operation.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has declared Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Level 3, as operating energy reserves across Texas have reached critical levels. This requires electric providers to implement rotating outages to ease the strain on an overloaded grid. Such rotating outages are only implemented as a last resort to maintain reliability of the electric system, officials noted.

ERCOT expects to continue these rotating outages through Tuesday. If a resident experiences a power outage that surpasses an hour-long period, it is likely not a rotating outage but rather a power outage. Residents are encouraged to report a power outage to their provider and check for the latest conditions by visiting each provider’s website.

For more updates and information, follow us at @PreparingWilco on Twitter and Facebook. For information on road conditions, visit www.drivetexas.org.