Oklahoma, Texas issue emergency following winter storm

Winter weather in Oklahoma and Texas has led to both states issuing emergency declarations providing relief from certain regulations.

Reports on Wednesday morning said more than 230,000 in Texas were without electricity, and thousands of flights have been canceled.

If you are experiencing outages contact your local provider – you can monitor outage maps and find contact information for them on our Storm Resources page: https://t.co/3Jl5oTQuHa #txwx pic.twitter.com/ofhjl4Nr8k

— PUC of Texas (@PUCTX) January 30, 2023

Portions of Oklahoma remain under a winter storm warning until Thursday morning, while an ice storm warning has been issued for north and central Texas.

[01/31/23 10:28 AM] Winter storm warning headlines have been expanded to include additional counties in SE OK/WC thru 6 pm with ongoing wintry precipitation. Use extra caution if driving today with additional accumulations of snow/sleet and ice expected. #okwx #arwx pic.twitter.com/6K76jIwW9I

— NWS Tulsa (@NWStulsa) January 31, 2023

Texas notice

The statewide emergency in Texas provides relief from Title 49, CFR, Part 395.3 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for motor carriers in Texas providing direct assistance to the disaster relief. Included in this assistance are power grid repairs and delivery of fuel, propane and other essential products, said the emergency notice.

Federal requirements including commercial driver’s license requirements, hazardous material transportation regulations, size, weight and safety regulations or any regulation not mentioned in the order remains in effect.

Motor carriers with a current out-of-service order are not allowed to take advantage of this relief.

The order is set to expire on Feb. 5.

Oklahoma’s emergency

Effective until Feb. 12, the declaration in Oklahoma applies to the maximum driving time within a work period for rural electric cooperatives, public utilities, public service corporations or municipal employees providing service necessary to ensure the health, welfare and safety of the public.

This relief applies to intrastate commerce as well as interstate commerce on state and interstate roads.

Drivers operating under this order are not required to carry a copy of the waiver with them. LL

More Land Line coverage of Texas and Oklahoma.