San Antonio storm: 2 deaths and thousands without power
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A police officer moves a tree out of the road outside The Lonesome Rose on Friday night. Photo: Megan Stringer/Axios
Officials are investigating two deaths related to an intense storm Friday night as thousands of people in San Antonio remained without power on Sunday. Some outages are expected to continue into Monday.
The latest: A 46-year-old woman who was homeless likely died of drowning, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said at a Sunday morning press conference.
- A man in his 50s was also found dead Sunday near Woodlawn Lake Park, another possible drowning, acting police Chief Jesse Salame said.
Zoom in: Around 250,000 customers were without power during Friday night's storm, said Frank Almaraz, interim CEO for CPS Energy. By Sunday morning, that number had dropped to just under 20,000.
- The utility began repairing the largest outage areas first and has been working its way toward the smaller areas, Almaraz said. In some cases, crews cut power to those who had it to make repairs.
- Regional utilities have sent crews to help. CPS had about 40% more people working on Saturday than usual, and doubled its typical Sunday capacity with help from the Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Almaraz said.
Some public school buildings were without power as of Sunday, per Jones.
- San Antonio ISD and Southwest ISD were the most impacted, Almaraz said.
The big picture: Some of the areas hit hardest by the storm include Five Points, just north of downtown, near West Side neighborhoods and Monte Vista.
- "We know some of the areas that are continuing to experience an outage are some of the most vulnerable in our community," Jones said.
- Some Opportunity Home San Antonio locations that house older adults and people with disabilities also remained without power Sunday, Jones said.
State of play: The city opened six "resilience hubs" for residents to stay overnight Saturday and Sunday. They will remain open through at least noon Monday, though the hours will be extended if people remain without power Monday night, deputy city manager María Villagómez said.
- A map of city locations to stay cool, including the overnight hubs, is online. VIA is offering free transportation to cooling centers; residents can call 311 for help.
- The San Antonio Food Bank has been distributing both hot meals and non-perishable food items.
By the numbers: There were still about 40 traffic signals in flashing mode and more than 100 offline as of Sunday morning.
- The city demolished two commercial buildings due to emergency structural issues.
- Between 7am and 4pm Saturday, the city received about 4,600 calls to 311, Villagómez said. The city call center typically gets about 900 to 1,100 calls on a Saturday.
What's next: Keep updated online with CPS Energy's outage map.
- Officials asked residents to continue to call 311 to report debris and downed power lines and traffic signals.
- The Bitters Brush Facility will waive disposal fees through Saturday.