Power outages in the Dallas/Fort Worth area fell to less than 40,000 yesterday afternoon, down from 52,000 at 5 a.m., as Oncor approached completing storm repairs. On Friday night, more than 200,000 homes and businesses were without power. Oncor had restored electricity to almost 500,000 homes and businesses in the past 48 hours.

“Oncor is closing in on restoring electric service to all but the most difficult cases by the end of today with a few possibly going into Monday,” said Brenda Pulis, Oncor senior vice president distribution. “We know being without power is difficult, and we appreciate our customers’ patience.”

According to preliminary assessments, the Feb. 11-12 winter storm was the fourth worst storm in Oncor’s history with more than 500,000 customers affected and the worst winter storm in Oncor’s history. “Customers affected” is the number of times Oncor has restored power throughout the storm. Over the last four days, trees contacting power lines have caused multiple outages at a single location.

Because of the magnitude of this winter storm, Oncor was leaving limbs trimmed away to make repairs for the time being and will return to pick them up over the course of the next few weeks. If the storm caused a tree to fall onto an Oncor line, Oncor will clear any limbs or portions of the tree it cuts to allow access and repair of equipment. Homeowners will be responsible for handling what’s left of the tree.