Power outage history
Polk County Texas
17hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
52nd most of 240 in Texas 2.6× the national median
Every day since 2015
Eleven years, one night at a time
Each cell is a day. The brighter it is, the larger the share of Polk's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 3.8 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Polk, hours without power per customer
The record
The biggest outages since 2015
Ranked by customer-hours lost: customers out multiplied by how long they stayed out. Times are local.
| Began | Storm | Peak out | Share | Lasted | 90% restored | Customer-hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 8, 2024 | Hurricane Beryl | 25,572 | 100% | 5.5 d | 13 h | 1.7M |
| May 28, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 10,568 | 41% | 2.1 d | 26 h | 195k |
| Apr 22, 2020 | Tornadoes | 4,246 | 17% | 3.9 d | 3.8 d | 150k |
| May 16, 2024 | Flooding | 5,824 | 23% | 2.1 d | 26 h | 108k |
| Feb 15, 2021 | Winter storm | 6,939 | 27% | 36 h | 16 h | 78k |
| Aug 31, 2017 | Hurricane Harvey | 3,236 | 13% | 22 h | 18 h | 67k |
| Apr 26, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 6,686 | 26% | 45 h | 14 h | 67k |
| Jun 10, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 9,179 | 36% | 22 h | 13 h | 56k |
| May 30, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,722 | 15% | 26 h | 4.2 h | 47k |
| Jan 7, 2017 | No storm report | 8,247 | 32% | 7.8 h | 5.2 h | 40k |
| May 2, 2024 | Flooding | 2,919 | 11% | 34 h | 3.8 h | 30k |
| Aug 27, 2017 | Hurricane Harvey | 3,816 | 15% | 42 h | 11 h | 26k |
| Apr 9, 2020 | No storm report | 3,529 | 14% | 21 h | 1.8 h | 23k |
| May 11, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,774 | 11% | 27 h | 15 h | 19k |
| Jan 2, 2017 | No storm report | 2,912 | 11% | 10 h | 10 h | 18k |
| Aug 27, 2020 | Hurricane Laura | 1,309 | 5% | 21 h | 27 h | 14k |
| Mar 18, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,936 | 8% | 16 h | 17 h | 14k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | No storm report | 3,246 | 13% | 8.5 h | 5.2 h | 13k |
| Apr 13, 2019 | No storm report | 1,318 | 5% | 26 h | 24 h | 13k |
| Apr 29, 2024 | Flooding | 3,522 | 14% | 5.2 h | 3.5 h | 13k |
| Mar 19, 2025 | No storm report | 3,592 | 14% | 4.5 h | 3.8 h | 13k |
| Dec 10, 2022 | No storm report | 1,607 | 6% | 14 h | 2.8 h | 12k |
| Mar 24, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,878 | 7% | 10 h | 7.0 h | 10k |
| Apr 29, 2020 | No storm report | 1,800 | 7% | 14 h | 11 h | 10.0k |
| Jun 12, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 2,261 | 9% | 10 h | 6.5 h | 9.3k |
| May 22, 2021 | No storm report | 650 | 3% | 19 h | – | 8.6k |
| May 26, 2016 | Flooding | 525 | 2% | 24 h | – | 8.6k |
| Apr 23, 2021 | No storm report | 3,483 | 14% | 3.2 h | 2.5 h | 8.3k |
| Jan 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,357 | 5% | 14 h | 13 h | 8.1k |
| May 9, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,312 | 5% | 9.0 h | 6.8 h | 8.1k |
After the peak
How fast the lights come back
Each line is one major outage, from its peak. The amber line is the typical path.
When it happens
The outage clock
Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.
What was happening
Weather behind the outages
Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Polk from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 56%
- No storm on record 17%
- Thunderstorms 14%
- Flooding 5.4%
- Tornadoes 4.8%
- Winter storm 2.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Polk
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Texas territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entergy Texas Inc. | Investor Owned | 403 | 305 | 2.58 | 13.9 | 469k |
| Sam Houston Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 466 | 347 | – | 14.2 | 88k |
| City of Livingston | TX | – | – | – | – | 29k |
EIA Form 861, latest year each utility reported. Outage minutes are SAIDI, the yearly minutes the average customer goes without power; outages a year are SAIFI.
Next door
Neighbouring counties
About these numbers
Notes
Outages come from the EAGLE-I record of utility outage maps collected every 15 minutes by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Hours without power are customer-hours divided by the county's 25,572 electricity customers. Averages use well-covered years from 2018. Outages shorter than 15 minutes, and utilities that publish no outage map, are not in the record, so these figures understate the total. How every number is made →