Texas
Wednesday morning storms further impacts power restorations in East Texas
EAST TEXAS (KLTV) – The latest rounds of storms that have swept through East Texas early Wednesday morning has led to further power outages and continues to complicate restoration efforts.
Electrical providers have struggled to restore and maintain customers power on throughout the relentless weather events the past couple of weeks.
At last check, providers in East Texas were reporting over 80,000 outages, the majority of which are coming out of Smith County.
ONCOR is reporting a total of 42,929 outages as 6:06 a.m., over 25,000 of them are in Smith County alone. The second most outages are coming out of Hopkins County with a reported 4,952 outages. Henderson County is reporting over 1,500 outages meanwhile Van Zandt County is reporting over 1,100.
SWEPCO is reporting a total of 32,284 outages across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Hardest hit regions include Gregg and Harrison counties with a combined total of 8,935 reported outages. Panola and Rusk counties have reported over 2,000 outages each and Franklin County has lost power to 1,614 homes and businesses.
Upshur Rural Electric Co-Op is reporting over 9,000 outages across the region most of which are coming out of Gregg and Camp counties with 1,800 outages each. Harrison County has reported over 1,600 outages meanwhile Marion County is reporting over 1,300 outages. Smith, Morris, Cass, Upshur, and Wood counties are reporting a combined total of 1,800 outages.
Wood County Electric Co-Op is a harder hit provider with over 25% of their customer base in the dark. Over 8,500 outages are coming out of Wood County alone. Franklin County is the second hardest hit area with over 1,200 customers out of power. Titus and Van Zandt counties are reporting a combined 1,500 outages meanwhile Camp, Smith, and Hopkins are reporting a total of over 1,200 outages.
Debris from the storms has also led to a long list of road closures. Officials are advising commuters to watch for trees and downed power lines across roads in East Texas and to not attempt to move power lines. Also, intersections without power are to be treated as 4-way stop.
Tyler residents are reporting tree and power line damages throughout the city while roads in Longview have been reportedly flooded.
ONCOR officials stated yesterday that restoration was going to be a “slow process” and Pct. 2 Commissioner John Moore has already asked frustrated residents to remain patient and civil.
“Please remember that the folks who work at the county are human beings and they are overloaded and bombarded,” Moore said.
The power outages have also affected some county operations, including Pct. 5 Justice of the Peace and constable offices in Lindale which are currently closed.
For a full list of traffic conditions and road closures click here. You can also view road conditions reported by TxDOT here.
Oncor asks residents to report down power lines to the Tyler Police Department’s non-emergency line at (903) 531-1000 or 911.
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A Texas state trooper was killed in a crash in the Panhandle, becoming the 244th Texas Department of Public Safety officer to die in the line of duty since 1823, according to the agency.
Sergio Romero, 27, died Wednesday after a semi-truck pulled in front of him as he attempted a traffic stop around 4 p.m. on U.S. 287 in Childress County, DPS said.
In a statement, Col. Freeman F. Martin praised Romero’s courage, integrity, and service.
“Today, we grieve the loss of one of our own,” Martin said. “… Our hearts break alongside his family, friends, fellow troopers, and all who loved him. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice he made in service of his fellow Texans.”
Romero previously served with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office before joining DPS as part of Class B-2025 in Childress, the agency said.
He is survived by his wife, Francisca, and their two young sons.
Funeral arrangements are pending. The crash remains under investigation.
Flash flood warning in Texas as streets fill with water
Flash flood warnings are active as heavy rain swamps roads across central Texas and rising waters pose danger to drivers.
Texas is keeping more than half of its counties under a state of emergency.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott renewed three statewide disaster declarations on Tuesday, June 16 — covering flooding, drought and border security — which together place 164 of the state’s 254 counties under emergency authority.
Each of the orders, signed by Abbott and filed with Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, authorizes the use of “all available resources of state government and of political subdivisions that are reasonably necessary to cope with this disaster.”
Here’s a look at what the proclamations are for and which counties are under them.
Flood disaster from deadly 2025 Hill Country storms holds across 30 counties
On July 4, 2025, Abbott issued a disaster declaration following heavy rainfall and flooding that caused widespread and severe property damage, injury and loss of life in several counties.
The Camp Mystic flooding, which killed 27 campers and counselors, also occurred during this time frame. The original declaration included 21 counties located in the Texas Hill Country and the Concho Valley in the central part of the state.The disaster order has been renewed over the past year, expanding to include 30 counties in the June 2026 renewal and does the following:
- Suspends all laws that prevent the transfer of bodies to families as soon as possible.
- Suspends all laws regarding state agencies’ contracting or procurement rules that would impede its emergency response necessary to protect life or property threatened by the declared disaster.
- Temporarily suspended — with written approval from the governor’s office — laws that would prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action to respond to the disaster.
Drought disaster covers 111 Texas counties as wildfire risk persists
Abbott amended and renewed a drought disaster order originally issued on July 8, 2022, and it has been renewed several times over the past four years.
When it was originally signed, the order impacted 158 counties across the entire state, from the Texas Panhandle to the Permian Basin to the Texas Hill Country.
The original order states that the persistent drought conditions in the state have increased the wildfire threat in the region. The June 2026 renewal order states that the Texas Division of Emergency Management has confirmed that those same drought conditions persist; however, only 111 counties are listed in the renewed order.
The order does the following:
- Suspends all laws regarding state agencies’ contracting or procurement rules that would impede its emergency response necessary to protect life or property threatened by the declared disaster.
- Temporarily suspends — with written approval from the governor’s office — laws that would prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action to respond to the disaster.
Border security disaster spans 70 counties in fifth-year renewal
The original order was issued in May 2021 in response to a “surge of individuals unlawfully crossing the Texas-Mexico border posed an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster for a number of Texas counties.”
The original 2021 order affected 34 counties along the Texas border from El Paso to Brownsville, with Abbott saying it was in response to former President Joe Biden’s open-border policy.
“President Biden’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities,” Abbott said in a June 2021 statement. “Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them.
The order has been renewed and amended several times over the past five years, with the June 2026 order impacting 70 counties from El Paso through the Hill Country and the lower Rio Grande Valley.
The renewed order declares a state of disaster for those counties and for all state agencies impacted by the prescribed disaster.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
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