Electricity customers in one North Texas town could lose power for up to 4 hours amid heat wave
CRESSON, Texas - A father in Cresson, about 25 miles southwest of Fort Worth, says he's angry with his electric company for a scheduled outage during this heat wave.
The company says notifications went out last week about planned work on underground lines. It told customers outages would start in the morning and last up to four hours.
This extreme heat is already exhausting but add to that a planned power outage. It has neighbors worried about staying cool.
Temperatures are climbing to dangerously hot conditions and are expected to do so again on Wednesday.
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And for some customers of Tri-County Electric Cooperative, like Daniel Kohn, they're worried about dealing with no electricity.
"We have elderly neighbors and young kids and pets and older houses. So we’re worried about temperatures climbing," he said. "When we reached out to Tri-County, their response was to go to friend's or family’s house. Not everybody has friends or family around the area."
According to a Tri-County Electric statement, the cooperative said it "has a planned outage scheduled for Wednesday, June 21 at 9 a.m. that impacts approximately 70 members in the Bourland Field area. We will do everything we can to minimize the interruption. However, please expect up to four hours of downtime."
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An Excessive Heat Warning is in place for the Metroplex, meaning it is dangerously hot outside.
"They will have crews available tomorrow. Offices are closed today so we can call and voice our concern, but it’s a planned upgrade," Kohn said.
Tri-County Electric told FOX 4 by email that customers were notified by automated phone messages that went out starting last Thursday morning. And customers that subscribe to notifications also got a text and email.
Kohn says he is worried about his kids in a house without AC for up to four hours.
"I’m personally going to go to my parents," he said.
While it won’t be the hottest part of the day, the forecast is calling for feels-like temperatures between 90 and 105 degrees during that time.
"Neighbors are getting hotel rooms," Kohn said. "My neighbor, Sydney, had to get a wheelchair to accommodate to move her mom."
Tri-County says the specific maintenance causing the disruption is crews switching underground service to a different circuit.