(Reuters) – More than 200,000 homes and businesses in the central and eastern U.S. were still without power on Tuesday, data from PowerOutage.us showed, after a winter storm brought snow, ice and freezing temperatures.
That is down from a total of more than 409,000 customers affected by the winter storms that battered the central and eastern half of the country on Jan. 5-6.
The U.S. is bracing for further disruption as blizzard conditions persist across parts of the country.
Governors in several states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia and Virginia, declared states of emergency on Monday.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Sunday announced a weather watch from Jan. 6-10, saying anticipated cold weather across its region could boost demand for electricity and reduce reserves.
However, ERCOT said grid operations were forecast to remain normal during the weather watch.
PJM Interconnection, the nation’s biggest power grid operator, issued a cold weather advisory for its Western Region, which includes parts of Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania, for Jan. 8-10.
The advisory helps power producers prepare for extreme weather and ensures reliable electricity supply during periods of high demand.
Here are the major outages by state:
State Outages
Virginia 60,018
West Virginia 34,194
Kentucky 33,918
Indiana 30,615
Illinois 23,721
Missouri 19,109
Total Out 201,575
(Reporting by Anmol Choubey, Noel John and Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Kate Mayberry and Ed Osmond)
