Austin mayor apologizes as city struggles to restore power

>> Widespread power outages in the Texas capital stretched into a third day Friday for thousands of residents following a winter storm that was spiraling into a management crisis as city leaders remained unable to say when all the lights would come back on.

Impatience among frazzled, freezing and fed-up families in Austin escalated even as milder weather returned. On Friday, the newly elected mayor stood before cameras and apologized after a week of slow repairs, failed technology and lacking communication with the public.

“The city let its citizens down. The situation is unacceptable to the community, and it’s unacceptable to me,” said Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat who took office in

January. “And I’m sorry.”

While New England began shivering and closed schools under an Arctic blast expected to bring the coldest weather in a generation, temperatures finally started to moderate Friday and bring some relief to Austin, where at any given time about 30% of customers in the nation’s 11th-largest city have been without electricity since the ice storm swept into Texas late Monday.

City officials said Friday that significant progress was finally being made as frozen equipment and roads thawed. About 117,000 customers still lacked power, according to Austin Energy, the city’s utility. That’s down from a peak of around 170,000 people, nearly a third of all customers.

But frustration was not melting away for residents who still had no assurances or sense of when their power would return.

“I just honestly think they were not prepared for any of this,” said Edward Kim, 43, whose home had been without power or heat since Wednesday. He was using a generator to keep his house “on life support,” while his wife took her 7-year-old daughter to her office to get a shower.

Steve Spencer, 63, had also been without power since Wednesday — despite the city’s utility calling him twice to tell him his power was on, he said. “I don’t know what’s going on down there,” he said.

Will Rison didn’t lose power, but his parents, who are in their 70s, have been without electricity since Wednesday. They’ve been coming to his home to charge their phones and take showers.

“You can only wrap yourself in so many blankets and wait it out,” Rison said.