KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — UPDATED THROUGHOUT — Several Kaufman County school districts, local governments, and other business/centers have announced closures as a winter storm bears down on North Texas.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — UPDATED THROUGHOUT — Several Kaufman County school districts, local governments, and other business/centers have announced closures as a winter storm bears down on North Texas.
Kaufman County remains under a Winter Storm Warning until 6 p.m on Thursday.
Thursday morning, Kaufman County Judge Hal Richards issued a Disaster Declaration for Kaufman County.
"This action will allow the county to access State and Federal resources should they be needed," read a statement from the county. "Governor Abbott will be issuing a State Disaster Declaration in preparation to provide any and all resources necessary to care for Texans."
Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative representatives said, as with any inclement weather event, crews are ready and on standby.
"At this point ERCOT has assured grid operators that they expect to have plenty of power available, and rolling outages should not be required," read a statement from TVEC Media and Content Supervisor Don Johnson. "If that changes, we will be alerting members as quickly as possible. That would be preceded by a call for energy conservation."
ERCOT had previously issued a Winter Weather Watch of their own through Sunday.
"ERCOT is using all the tools available to manage the grid effectively during this winter weather," Interim CEO Brad Jones stated in a press release. "ERCOT will deploy all the resources and aggressively implement the tools available to us to manage the grid reliably during this winter weather.
Jones says ERCOT will be coordinating closely with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Public Utility Commission, the Railroad Commission, elected officials, and electric generators and transmission and distribution utility companies to keep Texans informed throughout the weekend.
Outages may still be likely due to ice on transmission wires and fallen tree limbs, officials warn.
Overnight, TVEC crews responded to a large outage southeast of Kaufman due to a tree falling on the transmission lines. The outage, which effected approximately 800 TVEC customers, was restored just before 1 a.m.
School districts have begun announcing closures for Friday, in addition to the already announced closures for today.
The Forney Independent School District (ISD) will be closed Thursday, February 3, 2022, and Friday.
Kaufman ISD will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Terrell ISD will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Terrell ISD's ExCEL campus is closed from February 3rd until February 6th.
Kemp ISD will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Scurry-Rosser ISD will be closed Thursday and Friday.
All Trinity Valley Community College campuses will be closed Thursday and Friday.
The Kaufman Christian School will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Crandall ISD will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Mabank ISD will be closed Thursday and Friday.
All Kaufman County Senior Citizens Centers will be closed on Thursday. Shelf-stable meals had been delivered in preparation for the inclement weather.
BlackJack Disposal will not open Convenience Stations on Thursday in Precinct 3 and 4. As of Thursday morning, they planned to re-open Friday and Saturday.
The City of Forney offices will be closed Thursday and Friday. In case of any water emergency, Public Works can be reached at the Forney Police Department's non-emergency line at (972) 552-6625.
City of Kaufman City Hall will be closed on Thursday and Friday. Kaufman Public Works can be contacted at )972) 962-8007.
The COVID testing site at 550 Industrial will be closed Thursday and Friday. Testing is tentatively scheduled to resume on Saturday, depending on road conditions.
The Literacy Depot's Open House in Terrell has been postponed until February 17.
The City of Crandall has established warming stations at the City Courthouse, First Baptist Church, and Central Baptist Church. For questions, contact City Hall at (972) 427-3771.