Christmas morning brought fierce winds, causing dead trees to fall and knock out power to more than 9,000 Sam Houston Electric Cooperative members. When the powerful winds began around mid-morning, only a few hundred power outages were initially reported. As they pushed through East Texas, however, that number grew to 9,077 by noon.
The Cooperative had extra crews ready to respond, and additional contractor crews were brought in to help restore power so Cooperative members could get back to their Christmas Day activities. As line technicians restored power in the field, other Cooperative employees were called in to handle dispatching duties, take phone calls, and provide necessary support functions.
By 1:45 pm Christmas Day, power had been restored to more than 4,000 members. High winds kicked up again later in the afternoon, and more trees fell, causing another round of power outages.
At 4:30 pm, there were 4,137 Sam Houston EC members without power. Crews continued working through Christmas Day as additional contractor crews arrived from south Texas and northeast Texas to assist.
By 2:30 am, all 9,000 reported outage cases had been restored. Approximately 18 new outages were reported Wednesday morning from more strong winds overnight.
“Certainly no one wants to have a storm and be without power on Christmas Day,” said chief communications officer Keith Stapleton. “We appreciate our members’ patience, and we are thankful for the dedicated employees who put their family Christmas on hold so power could be restored to our members.”
