(Reuters) – More than 189,000 homes and businesses in the central and southern U.S. were without power on Monday night, data from PowerOutage.us showed, after a winter storm brought snow, ice and freezing temperatures.
The US is bracing for further disruption as blizzard conditions persist in several states.
The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to move off the coast late Monday to be replaced by Arctic air, significantly lowering daytime temperatures.
The governors of several states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia and Virginia, have declared states of emergency.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Sunday issued a weather watch for Jan. 6-10, saying expected cold weather across the region could increase power demand and reduce reserves.
However, it said network operations will remain normal during the weather observation.
Transmission organization PJM Interconnection has issued a cold weather advisory for its western region, which includes parts of Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania, from January 8-10.
The advisory helps power producers prepare for extreme weather conditions and ensure reliable power supply during periods of high demand.
Appalachian Power Company reported the largest number of affected customers, with 43,850 without power in Virginia and 28,525 in West Virginia.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE: ) Indiana said 33,364 customers reported power outages in Indiana.
These are the main outages by country:
State interruptions
Virginia
55,709
Kentucky
36,012
Indiana
35,811
West Virginia
32,135
Illinois
29,387
In total (EPA:) Out
189,054
