CPS Energy Storm Update

CPS Energy Update – 2/20 Storms as of 7:30 p.m

• At the peak of last night’s unprecedented storms, approximately 84,000 people sustained momentary or sustained outages.

What we know as of 7:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 20.

• The National Weather Service has reported at least four tornadoes touched down last night in Greater San Antonio. The first tornado had a preliminary rating of EF-1 in the Linda Drive/Alamo Quarry area with winds at about 105 mph. A second tornado rated at EF-0 with winds up to 70 mph was confirmed between Windcrest and Converse, east of Interstate 35. A third tornado was confirmed near Putting Green Rd. in northeast San Antonio, near a transmission tower that is now bent over. And, most recently, a fourth tornado was confirmed as an EF-0 with 85 mph winds near Garden Ridge with a path of 0.70 miles.
• Approximately 3,671 customers are currently without power.
• We’re expecting the number of impacted customers to decrease by at least 2,000 in the next three hours due to some large outages that we anticipate to be restored.
• Customers still experiencing an outage should make plans to be without power until tomorrow, with possible restoration by end of day on Tuesday. We will attempt to contact these customers this evening.

• Significance of storm – The impact of this unprecedented storm is still being totaled, but this is the first time in CPS Energy’s recent history that TWO large-scale transmission towers have been destroyed. We’ve created a link to some of the pictures we’ve captured this morning.
• With a storm this severe and damage this significant, restoration to some areas may take some time. We’ve made significant progress, but we are still assessing the damage to some of the hardest hit areas. We’ll continue to update our progress throughout the day and we remain committed to restoring power as safely and quickly as possible.
• Our Call Center is fully staffed and taking calls, and our staff will be on duty to ensure outage support throughout the evening and overnight.
• We’re actively engaged with the media and several of our executive leaders, including Cris Eugster, Chief Operating Officer; Felecia Etheridge, Chief Customer Engagement Officer; and Fred Bonewell, Chief Safety and Security Officer, have posted videos to our Facebook channel communicating our restoration, customer, and safety efforts.
• Our Customer Response Unit (CRU) teams are out, assisting customers in the hardest hit areas. Our Business Account Managers are also talking to our larger customers to ensure restoration efforts are being addressed and communicated as quickly as possible.
• We’ll continue to update our customers through the local media and our social media channels regularly throughout the day.
• Customers can report outages at cpsenergy.com or by calling (210) 353–HELP (353-4357), or toll-free (800) 870-1006 from rural areas.