Power outages and closure of Highway 290

CenterPoint Energy provided the latest updates on ongoing power outages and a brief closure of Highway 290 Saturday that affected Houstonians.

Updated latest power outages

As of 3:41 p.m. Saturday, 764 customers remained affected by power outages. CenterPoint said these outages are primarily isolated incidents in specific areas where significant damage has occurred or customer-owned equipment, such as weather heads, is damaged. Some outages are also caused by unrelated service issues, such as car accidents causing downed poles and wires.

CenterPoint Energy assures the community that it has the workers and resources needed to resolve these remaining outages safely and quickly. Despite the restoration of power to more than 900,000 customers affected by the severe May 16 storm, the company acknowledges that some Houstonians are still waiting for their power to be restored. CenterPoint Energy said it remains committed to a round-the-clock effort until every customer has power again.

Closure of Highway 290

In coordination with TxDOT and local law enforcement, traffic on Highway 290 was temporarily stopped Saturday morning. CenterPoint Energy had to temporarily shut down transmission lines to repair them after severe storms on May 16 significantly damaged them.

RELATED: A section of Highway 290 will be briefly closed Saturday for repairs related to Houston storms

The shutdown, originally scheduled between 7 and 8 a.m., was delayed due to a vehicle accident that required the safe clearance of the highway before CenterPoint Energy crews could make critical repairs to the transmission. The closure began at 9:50 a.m. and lasted until 11:00 a.m., when all main routes were reopened.

CenterPoint Energy said it apologizes for the inconvenience and thanks the community for its patience during this critical restoration work.

Restoration progress

Previous estimates from CenterPoint Energy predicted that nearly all customers would have their power restored by Wednesday evening, reaching as high as 97% restoration according to their latest figures. Thursday morning, just under 25,000 customers were without power, marking the seventh day of outage for some. This figure represents the home stretch of the more than 900,000 customers who initially lost power during the May 16 Derecho.

SEE ALSO: Most people in the Houston area have power back after the storm, but some may have to wait until the weekend.