It’s become a familiar cycle: A powerful storm sweeps through a swath of Texas and takes the electric system down in its grip. Trees might bend and topple, crashing down onto a power pole. Sometimes the weight of ice pulls branches onto electric lines. Other times wind makes a wire spark, and that ember ignites a destructive blaze.
Thousands of Texans then sit in the dark for days — in either the blistering heat or frigid cold — waiting for utility crews to survey and fix the damage so electricity can start flowing again.
Such power outages are likely to continue.
That’s because the massive network of equipment that moves electricity across the state and then to individual Texas homes and businesses is unprepared for the severe weather expected in years ahead, experts say. Making it more resilient will require utilities to invest money to strengthen the system over time.
Texas had 210 weather-related power outages — more than any other state — from 2000 to 2023, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Climate Central that used power outage data from the U.S. Department of Energy.
As emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses continue to increase temperatures, severe weather disasters will worsen. Fire seasons are getting longer and more intense, according to Climate Central. Warmer oceans fuel storms, causing hurricanes to likely be stronger. Days before Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Texas coast July 8, it set records fo