Comal County Officials Say Stay Home, the Worst Is Yet to Come

As roads ice and weather-conditions continue to worsen overnight, Comal County officials are begging residents to stay home.

Precinct 4 Constable Shane Rapp said there is icy accumulation on many roadways, especially on FM 306 and US 281.

“Please be cautious and stay indoors unless and emergency exists,” he said on Facebook. “Travel in these conditions for unnecessary purposes places you and others in danger.”

Comal County Fire/EMS said it is receiving “a lot of slips-and-fall calls” and is screening 911 calls.

“We have prepared our best but we are very limited on transporting patients,” an administrator posted on social media. “Most roads are predicted to be closed by this afternoon.”

Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) asked customers to comply with the Electric Reliablity Council of Texas’ (ERCOT) plea to conserve energy for system reliability. As of 4 p.m. crews were working on 110 outages affecting 3,500 meters across its entire service area.

Consumers and businesses are asked to reduce their electricity use as much as possible through Tuesday.

“We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness. “At the same time, we’re dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units. We are asking Texans to take some simple, safe stepsto lower their energy use during this time.”

To check out outages in your area, click here to see PEC’s interactive map. To report an outage, call 1-888-883-3379.

At 3 p.m. the U.S. National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio forecast widespread snow over the area tonight as temperatures plunge into the single digits and teens by Sunday morning. Wind chills of less than zero-degree Fahrenheit are expected. Gusty winds will drop visibilities within the heaviest snow below one quarter of a mile at times.

ERCOT asks customers to

• Turn down thermostats to 68 degrees.
• Close shades and blinds to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.
• Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances.
• Avoid using large appliances like ovens, washing machines, etc.
• Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.
• Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes.

Cancellations and Closures

• Comal County COVID-19 Clinic scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16 is canceled and has been rescheduled to Wednesday, Feb. 24.
• City of New Braunfels Solid Waste and Recycling Division shifts residential collection by one day so pick up will occur Tuesday through Friday.
• PEC offices will be closed on Monday.
• Multiple area restaurants and businesses are closed. Check Facebook for updates.
• As of 4:45 p.m. Comal ISD has not canceled classes for Tuesday. Monday is Presidents’ Day, a school holiday.
• McKenna Children’s Museum will be closed on Monday.
• Granny D’s to be closed on Monday.
• CanyonVet locations closed on Monday.