Frustration continues to grow as some Houston-area residents remain without power – Houston Public Media

SaMantha Shields lives with her wife and baby in the Third Ward. She was born and raised in Houston and knows exactly what to do in a hurricane.

“We stay away from the glass, we follow all the rules, we have our water bottles in the freezer, I had a barbecue,” she said. “I did the Texas thing, I had a barbecue. I did all the things that you do as a Houstonian after being in hurricanes for so long, because you get so desensitized after a while.”

Shields said she got her power back on Thursday, but most of her neighbors are still without power. Nearby businesses, including the daycare where Shields usually drops off her almost 3-year-old, are also still closed.

“Of course I have to run more errands, which means I have to go to a few other places. I can’t walk around town with the baby all day,” she said.

Even though many people finally got their power back after Hurricane Beryl last week, thousands are still struggling to continue their “normal” lives. In Tanglewood, the Rev. Omar Rouchon of St. Philip Presbyterian Church said most of his parishioners still need help.

“We’re monitoring them and making sure that the most vulnerable among them, the elderly or the oldest members of the congregation, have a place to stay,” he said. “And there’s one member of the church that I know … who went to an air-conditioned shelter because he couldn’t find another place to stay.”

Rouchon said some of his staff were also struggling.

“People are still finding their way out of the storm and are moving on to the next stage of recovery, which is assessing the damage and making necessary repairs,” he said.

Many residents, like Jean Loftin, are frustrated with Centerpoint. Loftin is from Northline, east of Greater Heights. But she went to visit family and friends last week because her home is still without power. She said CenterPoint’s power outage map shows her neighborhood as if it were.

“They haven’t been specific,” she said. “… We’re really concerned. Do they think we have power? Are we on the list of people who need to have power restored?”

Loftin said she canceled some medical appointments because she didn’t have an air-conditioned home to return to to recover.

“I feel like the days are going by. I feel like I’m wasting my time. I’m kind of in limbo,” she said. “… it’s just the anxiety that it brings.”

Courtesy of Luke Eads

In some areas, residents say power is routinely restored within days or weeks of extreme weather events. Kathy Eads lives in Pasadena with her son and dog, and she has moved all over the Houston area over the past 70 years. She is staying with friends for now, but there is a power line down at her house.

“I know they say they’re going to do an assessment and they’re doing the easy stuff first. They need to get more people in, okay. But if our system is so hard to get into, after a few decades, why isn’t anyone talking to us about it and asking what we can do to change that?” she asked.

Eads has been teaching for 20 years. She said she plans to retire in five years, but she plans to stay another year to save up for a generator.

“Not everyone can have one because they’re expensive. But I’m going to, and I’m going to be the one who can tell my friends, ‘Come to my house. We have air and you’re welcome,’” she said. “Because what they did to people is right, it’s a sin.”