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After severe storms swept through North Texas in the early morning of May 28, 2024, some supermarkets lost power. Milk and other perishables were tossed out, and customers shopped in the dark. But this didn’t happen at H-E-B in North Texas.
According to H-E-B Managing Director and Public Affairs Mabrie Jackson, multiple North Texas H-E-B locations are operating on generator power while Oncor works to restore power.
Jackson told Local Profile most of the grocery chain's North Texas stores have generators, but the power used varies by energy load requirements. “All of our stores are open to serve our customers,” Jackson said.
The Oncor outage map shows that over 7,000 residents in Plano remain without power. Richardson and other nearby cities are seeing over 26,000 residents without power. During the initial outage, the city of Plano had generator backup operating at 26 locations.
Oncor expects power to remain out in several areas of North Texas until Friday, May 31, but some harder-hit areas could be without until Saturday.
“We greatly appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers and remain focused on doing all we can to restore the remaining outages as quickly and safely as possible,” said Oncor.
Those affected by power outages should take caution before eating perishable foods. As the USDA notes, your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to 4 hours during a power outage. Keep the door closed as much as possible. Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers after 4 hours without power.
A full freezer, however, will hold a safe temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full and the door remains closed). Food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40°F or below, but its quality may suffer.
Visit the link here for a guide to food safety during an outage.
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