By Austin Senior Advisor Care Team · October 2, 2026
Austin's last big freezes were February 2021 and January 2026. If your parent lives alone, the plan has to exist before the forecast does. Here is what the city's medical registry does, what it does not, and what to arrange this month.
Why October is the month to do this
Nobody makes a power-outage plan during an ice storm. By the time the Austin forecast says freezing rain, roads are bad, phone lines are busy, and your parent is already cold. The work has to happen in the fall, when you can still drive over, open a closet, and have a calm conversation.
Central Texas has had two reminders in recent memory. In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri killed 246 people across Texas by the state's final count, and Travis County had 28 of those deaths, the second-highest county total after Harris County. The state's own breakdown found that 161 of the 246 were cold-exposure deaths, and 158 of those were hypothermia. The victims ranged from under a year old to 102.
Then in January 2026 it happened again, on a smaller scale. The Austin-Travis County Emergency Operations Center activated at noon on January 24 for a winter storm, extreme cold and ice storm warning, with the National Weather Service forecasting a tenth to a quarter inch of ice. CapMetro suspended all bus, rail and bikeshare service that afternoon. Cold weather shelters served 370 guests overnight on Friday alone.
None of that is a prediction for this winter. It is a reminder that a parent who is fine on a normal day can be in trouble within a day or two of losing heat, especially if they live alone, take medication that needs refrigeration, or use any equipment that plugs into the wall.
The question to ask first: what does your parent plug in?
Start with an inventory, not a shopping list. Walk through the house with your parent and write down everything that needs electricity to keep them safe. Most families think of the furnace and stop there. The real list is usually longer.
Look for an oxygen concentrator or CPAP machine, a powered hospital bed or lift chair, a nebulizer, an electric wheelchair or scooter charger, a stairlift, an insulin or biologic medication that has to stay cold, a medical alert pendant base that depends on a landline or home power, and a cordless phone base. Also note whether the water heater, stove, garage door opener and well pump (if there is one) run on electricity.
For each item, ask a plain question: what happens if this stops for twelve hours? Twenty-four? If the answer is "nothing much," cross it off. If the answer is "she cannot breathe comfortably" or "the insulin spoils," that item gets a written backup plan. Ask the equipment supplier directly what battery or backup option they provide for the specific device, and get it in writing. Do not assume the supplier has a policy, and do not assume the backup tank is full.
Austin Energy's Medically Vulnerable Registry, and what it does not promise
If your parent is an Austin Energy customer, there is a city program worth knowing about: the Medically Vulnerable Registry. It is for residential customers with critical medical needs. Registered customers get personal case management from the City of Austin and partnering social service agencies, help with flexible payment arrangements on utility bills, and a personalized emergency backup plan for power or water outages.
There are three eligibility categories, and a licensed medical provider has to verify the condition. Life support means the person depends on equipment that needs uninterrupted electric or water service. Critical illness covers conditions such as paraplegia, multiple sclerosis or scleroderma where temperature control matters, and it requires recertification every five years. Serious illness covers physical or mental health conditions affected by temperature changes, and it requires recertification every year.
To apply, use the registry's online form or call Customer Care at 512-494-9400. The published hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Have your parent's physician's name and contact information in front of you before you call.
Now the part that matters most. The city is explicit that registration does not guarantee uninterrupted power or priority restoration during an emergency. Registrants also still owe their monthly utility bill. So the registry is not a lifeline you can lean on in place of a plan. It is a way to get a human being at the utility who knows your parent exists, and to build the backup plan with them. Treat it as one layer, not the whole thing.
One more caution. Not every Austin-area household buys power from Austin Energy. Depending on the address, it may be a different utility or cooperative. I did not verify whether other providers in the region keep a comparable list, so call your parent's electric company and ask. If the answer is no, the household plan below matters even more.
Where your parent goes if the house goes cold
Decide the destination in advance, and decide it with your parent. The best option is almost always a relative's or friend's home that still has power and is within a short drive. The conversation is easier now than when your parent is shivering and afraid to be a burden.
Public options exist, but they are a backstop. During the January 2026 storm, the City of Austin ran cold weather shelters and opened three library branches as warming centers: Central Library, Terrazas Branch and Little Walnut Creek Branch. Anyone who needed transportation to a shelter was told to call 311. The city lists 512-972-5055 for cold weather shelter information. Those details come from that storm's updates. Locations, hours and procedures change from event to event, so check the city's current announcement instead of assuming the same sites open next time.
Be realistic about transportation. CapMetro suspended all service during that storm. If your parent does not drive, a shelter or a warm house across town may as well be across the state once roads ice over. That is why the plan needs a named person with a vehicle, and a second named person in case the first is out of town. Our guide to free transportation for Austin seniors covers everyday options, but none of them are built for an ice storm.
Also have a no-drive version of the plan. A parent with mobility problems may be safer staying put with extra layers, blankets, a battery-powered radio and a charged phone than attempting to leave on a glazed street. The decision to go or stay is easier to make if you have already talked through both.
The practical kit: boring, cheap, and done in an afternoon
You do not need a bunker. You need a short list that your parent can find in the dark. Keep it in one container near the front of the house: flashlights and extra batteries, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, phone chargers plus a charged power bank, a week of any daily medications in their labeled bottles, a printed medication list with doses and the pharmacy's phone number, and a printed list of emergency contacts. Do not rely on a phone contact list that dies with the battery.
Add warm things that actually fit: wool socks, a hat, thermal layers, and two extra blankets. Cold is the real hazard for an older body, and warm clothing does more than any gadget. Keep bottled water and food that needs no cooking or refrigeration within easy reach, at a height your parent does not have to stretch for.
Put one note on the refrigerator listing the plan in plain words: who to call, who is coming, where to go, what to bring, and what to do about the medical equipment. If your parent has memory problems, a note on the fridge is more reliable than a conversation you had in October. For a parent with significant memory loss, living alone through an ice storm may itself be the answer to a larger question, and our guide to what holiday visits reveal about a parent's needs can help you look at the pattern.
And never use a gas oven, a grill, or a generator indoors or in an attached garage as a heat source. That is standard safety guidance from every fire department and utility, and it is the sort of thing a frightened person does at 2 a.m. Say it out loud to your parent, and put it on the note.
If your parent is already in assisted living
Everything above is for a parent in their own home. If your parent lives in a licensed Texas assisted living community, the responsibility shifts, and the questions change. The facility has to have a written emergency plan, and when it shelters in place it must keep resident areas between 68 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Our guide to the emergency plan and evacuation summary walks through what you are entitled to ask for and how to ask.
Even so, family involvement matters. Ask in October how the community will reach you in an ice storm, whether the staff can actually get to work when roads are glazed, and what they do for residents who use electric equipment. Texas has had no blanket generator requirement for assisted living communities as of 2025 Texas Tribune reporting, so do not assume one exists. Ask what the specific building has, and ask to see it.
If you get answers that are vague or defensive, take note. A community that has thought carefully about a freeze answers these questions in specifics. A community that has not will say "don't worry, we have a plan."
Check on them, and know who to call when something is wrong
In the first twelve hours of an outage, the most useful thing you can do is call. Agree with your parent ahead of time on a schedule, for example morning, midday and evening, and agree on what you will do if they do not answer. A neighbor with a spare key is worth more than any app. Ask a neighbor now, not during the storm.
If you cannot reach your parent and the roads are not safe, call 311 or 911 depending on how urgent it feels. Call 911 for an emergency. If your parent seems unsafe at home over a longer stretch, for instance because the home is cold, there is no food, or no one is helping, Adult Protective Services handles concerns about adults living in the community. Their hotline is 1-800-252-5400, available 24 hours. If the concern is a problem inside a licensed facility, it goes to HHSC Complaint and Incident Intake at 1-800-458-9858, not APS.
For help organizing day-to-day support that makes the winter plan work, such as meals, rides, and someone checking in, the local Area Agency on Aging is a starting point, and our guide to adult day care in Austin covers one option that gives an isolated parent a daily destination. Many older adults who struggle in a freeze were already struggling in a heat wave, as we wrote in our summer heat guide.
What to do this month
Pick one weekend before Thanksgiving. Bring a notepad, not a lecture. Do the plug inventory. Call Austin Energy's registry line, or your parent's electric company, and ask about enrolling. Call the equipment supplier. Fill the kit. Put the note on the refrigerator. Introduce yourself to a neighbor.
Then write down the name of the person who will drive your parent out of the house, and the name of the person who is the backup. That single line is the plan. Everything else supports it.
None of this is dramatic, and that is the point. The families who get through an ice storm well are usually the ones who did a dull hour of preparation in the fall. You can do that hour this month.
