» Officials with natural gas industry say they weren’t to blame.

San Antonio officials have used the wireless emergency alert system to trumpet a statewide mask mandate and warn against social gatherings ahead of holidays. Alerts also were sent about the risk of icy roads as the recent winter storm approached.

But the system was silent as power went out across the city — and again when a boil-water notice was issued.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg acknowledged Friday that communication lines during the crisis broke down at every stage, from state regulators to CPS Energy to city officials to residents. He said the alert system would have been perfect for the situation — if local leaders had had reliable info to share.

“The challenge is if you don’t have informed facts to put out there, it exacerbates the problem. That was our issue. There was no reliable information about what was occurring from a power standpoint to put out on an alert,” Nirenberg said.

On Friday, the mayor met with the Express-news Editorial Board, along with County Judge Nelson Wolff and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.

Before the storm, state energy regulators told city officials to prepare for temperatures in the teens, icy roads and downed power lines. They suggested the state might have to dip into re

serves of power during peak energy use but did not warn of a massive power

failure, Nirenberg recalled.

CPS received little warning from state regulators as those routine cautions shifted to the highest levels of emergency warnings in about an hour. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has said the state’s grid was minutes away from total failure as energy use spiked on Feb. 15.

The “extremely poor” state-to-local information channels drew most of Nirenberg’s ire Friday, but he also noted that communication gaps between CPS and city officials need to be addressed going forward. A city panel is examining San Antonio’s preparations and response to the storm.

Express-news op-ed editor Ricardo López Jr. also brought up the boil-water notice, asking the mayor why text alerts weren’t sent when the San Antonio Water System issued it on Feb. 18.

“I’m a little pissed off about it myself because I found out about the boilwater notice on TV as we were having our special council session,” Nirenberg responded.

The city has added a new element to its text alerts this week.

On Wednesday, Nirenberg unveiled a new service that will notify users when appointments to receive the COVID-19 vaccines become available at mass vaccination sites.

Residents who want to sign up for the service must text VACCINE to 55000 or VACUNA to 55000 to receive alerts in Spanish.

During the Editorial Board meeting, the mayor also said the city of San Antonio has retained legal counsel to protect residents from bearing the sky-high energy costs related to the storm. Passing costs along to ratepayers would excuse “price-gouging profit-making at its worst,” Nirenberg said.