AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Just hours ahead of a threat of wintry precipitation and some of the coldest temperatures the Austin area has seen in more than a year, city and county leaders were putting emergency operations into motion Sunday evening.
The City of Austin and Travis County activated their joint Emergency Operations Center Sunday evening. Mayor Kirk Watson and Travis County Judge Andy Brown both spoke at a press conference Sunday afternoon, with Watson summing the city's advice up best: "stay indoors if at all possible."
The combined EOC will coordinate the city and county response to the storm, along with other emergency service departments and non-government organizations.
“We want everybody to be safe, and we can’t anticipate everything that might happen in that regard,” Watson said.
Williamson County officials were also activating their EOC Sunday afternoon. The county's Road and Bridge Division will be watching country roads and other travel paths, and be ready to treat bridges with sand and de-icing material as needed.
“We want the residents of Williamson County to stay home and stay safe," Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said. "Please use caution when using space heaters in your home as we have an increased risk for house fires during extreme cold weather."
Gravell and Watson both addressed ERCOT's request for conservation Monday morning. Gravell said WilCo has taken steps to reduce its impact, with county offices already closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, lowering thermostats by four degrees in unoccupied buildings.
Watson reminded Austin residents that even though the city-owned Austin Energy can produce its own electricity, it is still subject to requests from ERCOT. "Austin Energy and the City of Austin have to comply with the decision that ERCOT makes," Watson said, "though what the city attempts to do under those circumstances is to roll those outages so that no one area of town feels the brunt more than others."
Watson added that ERCOT continues to indicate that reserves should be sufficient, even with the conservation request.
Both the Austin/Travis County and the Williamson County EOCs say their operations will continue through the end of this winter storm.
