**East Texas Plunged into Darkness: Over 80,000 Homes Without Power Amidst Ice and Wind**
East Texas is grappling with widespread power outages affecting more than 80,000 homes following a significant ice and wind event across the region. As of Saturday evening at 7 p.m., utility companies were working to restore service, with some residents warned that power may not return until Monday.
Oncor has reported the highest number of affected customers, though SWEPCO and CenterPoint Energy also account for thousands of outages. Across the service areas, crews are battling challenging conditions to address downed lines and equipment damage.
In Smith County, Oncor alone had over 19,000 customers without electricity, with more than 14,000 of those located within Tyler. Gregg County saw over 10,000 outages, including more than 8,000 customers in Longview. Further south, Nacogdoches County reported over 8,000 Oncor customers impacted, and Angelina County had more than 6,000 outages, with over 4,000 specifically in Lufkin.
Smaller counties also experienced significant disruptions. Panola County had more than 3,000 SWEPCO customers without power, while Shelby and Rusk counties each reported over 2,000 SWEPCO outages. For Oncor customers, Henderson and Cherokee counties each saw more than a thousand outages, and both Camp and Upshur counties were close to a thousand.
Oncor has issued warnings that some affected areas may not see power restored until today, Sunday, January 25th, while others could experience outages extending into Monday, January 26th. Residents are strongly advised to avoid approaching or touching any downed power lines and to report them immediately to authorities or their utility provider.
For information on specific outages and estimated restoration times, customers can visit their respective utility's outage maps:
* Oncor: [oncor.com/outages](https://www.oncor.com/outages)
* SWEPCO: [swepco.com/outages](https://www.swepco.com/outages)
* CenterPoint Energy: [centerpointenergy.com/outages](https://www.centerpointenergy.com/outages)
