Prolonged power outages force Austin H-E-B stores to throw away perishable food

AUSTIN, Texas — A pair of H-E-B stores in Austin were forced to throw away food after prolonged power outages caused by Wednesday’s severe storms.

The H-E-B stores at Mueller and on Far West Boulevard were unable to keep perishable foods at proper temperatures due to the outages.

“Due to a sustained power outage, our H-E-B Mueller and Far West stores in Austin were unable to keep perishable foods at proper temperatures,” H-E-B said in a statement provided to KVUE on Thursday. “To follow strict food quality and safety standards, we are required to dispose of perishable foods when they are not properly temperature controlled, which also prevents us from donating those items to food pantries and food banks. When the stores reopen, they will have product available for customers.”

Both stores reopened Thursday morning.

However, power outages persist for many Austinites. As of around 3:40 p.m. Thursday, there were still 18,700 Austin Energy customers without power.

At the peak of the outages, Austin Energy’s interim general manager said more than 72,500 customers were in the dark. He added that because the damage the utility provider is seeing is so substantial, power restoration could take “multiple days” for some and there is not a current estimated time of restoration for everyone.