Abbott says Texas road closures due to ice could last 48 hours

Icy conditions in much of North and Central Texas led to widespread school closures, hundreds of traffic accidents and warnings from Gov. Greg Abbott and emergency personnel on Tuesday for people in affected areas to stay home to allow crews to work on roadways.

“Texans should use extra caution on the roadways,” Abbott said at an emergency briefing in Austin.

The governor said 1,600 roads in Texas have been impacted by the conditions with road crews trying to apply more than 1.3 million gallons of de-icing fluids around the state.

“Because of icing, many roads in Texas will remain very dangerous for the next 24 to 48 hours,” Abbott said.

Most school districts from Austin to Dallas closed on Tuesday. In addition, the University of Texas at Austin and much of the Texas Capitol complex were closed, prompting the cancellation of a Texas Senate hearing on the state budget that had been scheduled for Tuesday.

Despite the conditions, the state’s electricity grid was reporting more than enough power generation to handle the expected demand over the next 24 hours. ERCOT, the state’s grid manager, projected it would have more than 75,000 megawatts of power ready to handle a peak demand of about 64,000 megawatts Tuesday.

“We have all the resources that we need to ensure reliable operations during this event,” ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said.

As of noon, there were about 7,000 power outages in Texas, but Abbott said those were localized and not because of any issues with the grid.

More than 600 flights in and out of the Dallas area had been canceled or delayed Tuesday, according to FlightAware.

The icy conditions in much of the state are expected to continue through Wednesday.