Texas governor on storm: No guarantee there won't be power outages

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said on Tuesday "no one can guarantee" that there won't be power outages throughout the state as it braces for freezing weather.

Why it matters: The Republican governor's remarks come just over two months after he promised the lights would stay on during the winter season, touting that the state was better equipped to endure the inclement weather.

• Abbott said the many scenarios that could result in a blackout, adding that "ice on power lines" could "cause a power line to go down, or it could be ice on trees that causes a tree to fall on power lines."

The big picture: Millions of people were left without power last February as Texas plunged into single-digit temperatures and a sub-zero wind chill.

• More than 200 people died during the winter storm.

Between the lines: Not enough has been done to address one of the underlying causes of the blackouts — namely, preparing gas facilities for ice-cold conditions, Axios' Asher Price writes.

What they're saying: "No one can guarantee that there won't be [power outages]," Abbott said in a news conference.

• What "we will work and strive to achieve — and what we're prepared to achieve — is that the power's going to stay on across the entire state," he added.