Internet outages in Houston after Beryl

CYPRESS, Texas — In the final stretch before power is restored, CenterPoint reported that 99% of its customers will have electricity by Friday, July 19, 2024.

But for others, a different service has caused headaches this week, even with power restored.

Many people in a Cypress neighborhood lost power during Beryl and the May derecho, but now internet service is the problem, especially for those who have to work from home.

This forced them to make a big change.

A neighborhood near where Interstate 290 crosses the Grand Parkway looks more like it did before Beryl. Zerin Dube said she saw power lines bending and sparking before the power outage.

“In our house in particular, we had water coming in through the windows,” he said.

Knowing that so many others have had a tougher time, he and his family felt fortunate to be able to get by with a generator. He said in Texas, it’s not a question of if you’ll need one, but when.

“It’s almost like we have to bring our own infrastructure for everything. I have to have a generator for electricity because it’s not if the power goes out, but when. We now have about 110 hours of runtime with our generator in just two months,” he said.

And he added that even with the return of electricity, their problems are not over. Having access to the Internet is not just about surfing social networks. In many cases, it is a necessity.

“This is the modern world. We need electricity. We need internet connection, many of us depend on it. People depend on it for their daily lives or for their medical devices,” he said.

That’s why this week, Dube and some of his neighbors decided to switch providers, leaving after what they called serious delays and miscommunication about Comcast and Xfinity’s restoration.

In a statement to KHOU 11 News, Xfinity said in part: “In many cases, our restoration work cannot begin until storm debris has been removed and utility crews have completed their work. Because of this, internet service providers are often the last to complete their work.”

Xfinity has not given a specific timeline for a full restoration — saying only that they are focusing on repairs.