AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- First responders were keeping busy Friday as Austin dealt with the first of what is expected to be four potential rounds of wintry weather during this Arctic blast.
Austin Fire crews responded to 815 calls for service between noon Thursday and noon Friday, about 300 more than usual. 335 of those calls were for collisions, including 4 vehicle rescues.
AFD said 56 of the calls were for downed power lines, 18 were for structure fires, and 35 were for public assistance calls, mostly trees either down across a road or on a house.
Officials with the Travis County Sheriff's Office said its deputies were keeping busy as well. Between 4 a.m. and noon on Friday, deputies had responded to 51 collisions; last Friday, that same timeframe had six calls. Dozens of other calls came in reporting icy roadways across the county, as well as many more reported by deputies out on the roads.
Austin Energy crews were continuing to make progress on restoring electricity to customers who had lost power due to icy conditions. About 11,000 customers remained without power in the 2 p.m. hour Friday afternoon, down from a high of about 33,000 customers late Thursday afternoon.
