SAN ANTONIO — Carlos Correa woke up to chilly conditions and frustration Thursday morning, as his electricity went out amid the latest wave of wintry weather plunging its way through San Antonio.
Correa’s lack of electricity created frigid living conditions inside his home within the Dellview area neighborhood on the north side.
Attempts to reach CPS Energy were met with automation and zero answers as to what prompted the power outage.
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Correa also dealt with the added stress of trying to work remotely while contending with the challenge of keeping loved ones and pets bundled up.
Correa resorted to sitting in the car for long periods of time to charge his phone and crank up the heat.
“Obviously, they need to understand that this is going to happen more often than less, so they need to have a better plan in place. We’re having to charge our mobile phones in the cars, we’re having to go warm up in our vehicles. We’re using our gas stoves, which is one of the number one no no’s that CPS says not to do yet that’s the only thing that’s keeping our house warm at this time is our gas stove,” Correa said.
CPS Energy emphasized high winds contributed to disrupted power lines and the swath of outages, which at one time impacted more than 32,000 customers.
Correa alerted KENS 5 that his power returned by 4:30 p.m.
School cancellations spanned across San Antonio and surrounding communities.
Irma Iris Duran Rodriguez not only had intermittent power outages but was forced to balance remote work and ensure her children kept up with virtual learning and school assignments.
Overall, her family’s keeping positive and grateful for the tamer wintry experience compared to the inclement storm from one year ago.
“It worried me more today because my daughter did have virtual school and I did have work. Thankfully, we were prepared with enough supplies, and we do have four-wheel drive in case we need anything because we’ve noticed that some places are still open,” she said.
Shelley Belden recalls the storm of February 2021 and living without power for several days in a row. Thankfully, Belden’s children helped during those frigid four days, providing shelter and other necessities.
Fast forward to today, Belden’s anxieties heightened once again because the power went out for a brief time. However, she's keeping optimistic in CPS Energy's around-the-clock efforts to address the situation. She's now grateful to say, 'let there be light and heat.
"Of course, the fear of being cold and not being able to get warm food and my husband is disabled so it’s hard for him. We’re just hoping the power will stay on today and we won’t go through that anymore,” Belden said.