Lake Houston area begins to recover from Hurricane Beryl

Four days after Hurricane Beryl swept through the Greater Houston area on July 8, Karen Ballesteros said she and her family were still without power and the inside of their home in the Bordersville neighborhood of Humble felt warmer than the temperature outside.

“The first day was hot, but bearable,” Ballesteros said in a July 11 Facebook post. “On Tuesday morning (July 9), I woke up in a panic because of how hot it was in the house.”

Worried about her three young children, Ballesteros went to stay with family while she waited for power to return. Ballesteros was just one of 838,200 people in Harris County still waiting for power as of July 12. At the height of the crisis, on July 8, about 2.2 million CenterPoint customers in the Houston area were without power.

Humble Fire Chief David Langenberg said the city was hit fairly evenly, but he noted that areas with higher tree density were hit harder than others. Between July 8 and 9, Langenberg said the fire department received 211 calls related to Hurricane Beryl.

What happened?

Hurricane Beryl initially formed as a tropical depression over the Atlantic Ocean on June 28 before strengthening into the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season the following day, according to the National Weather Service. The hurricane tracked across the Gulf of Mexico before turning northeast and making its third landfall on July 8 as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda.

In Harris County, the strongest winds were recorded near the University of Houston, with gusts reaching up to 89 mph on July 8, according to the NWS. Winds reached up to 41 mph in Humble, according to data provided by the Citizen Weather Observer Program, a public-private partnership that aggregates storm data.

Additionally, Beryl dropped up to 8.4 inches of rain in Humble, about 4.4 inches in Kingwood and up to 14.9 inches in some areas of Harris County, according to NWS data.The impact

At least eight people have died in Texas from Hurricane Beryl, including seven in the Greater Houston area, as of July 9, local emergency management and state officials said.

“Our hearts go out to all Texans impacted by Hurricane Beryl, including our fellow Texans who tragically lost their lives or were injured,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement July 9.

At a July 9 news conference, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said more than 2.2 million residents in the Greater Houston area were still without power after the storm toppled 10 power transmission lines in addition to a multitude of trees and power distribution lines throughout the region.

“While we closely monitored the projected track, intensity and timing of Hurricane Beryl for many days, this storm demonstrated the unpredictability of hurricanes by delivering a powerful blow to our service territory and impacting many lives,” said Lynnae Wilson, senior vice president of CenterPoint Energy.

Internet and phone service were also disrupted by the storm. Data provided by Comcast showed that service to about 420,000 Xfinity and Comcast business customers was temporarily interrupted by Beryl’s impact on Southeast Texas as of July 8. AT&T officials said July 8 that major network facilities were online, with some operating on backup power; however, customers in affected areas were experiencing service interruptions due to storm damage and commercial power outages.

And after

Since April, numerous storms have hit the Houston area, leaving millions of customers without power for days at a time. Thomas Gleeson, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, said state agencies will work with local utilities to shore up infrastructure in preparation for future disasters.

“I look at each of these storms as an opportunity for us to review what we’ve done and try to improve our preparedness and response,” he said.

Tom Overbye, director of the Smart Grid Center at Texas A&M University, said an investigation will be conducted by the PUC to determine what happened.

“When we build distribution systems, there are standards. One of them is that the distribution line has to withstand 110 mph winds, and I don’t think Beryl had winds that fast. That’s probably going to be an issue that investigators will look at and say, ‘Why did so many people lose power?'” he said.

On July 8, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for Texas that will provide federal assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures, according to a July 9 news release from the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

The emergency declaration will provide 75% reimbursement for debris cleanup in affected counties, TDEM Chief Nim Kidd said at a July 9 news conference.

“Our community has been dealt a blow over the past few months, and this (statement) is a great beacon of hope for us,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a July 9 Facebook post.

Residents who suffered storm damage can report damage through the State of Texas’ Individual Damage Assessment Tool by visiting https://damage.tdem.texas.gov.