Houston residents swelter after Hurricane Beryl, with more than 1.7 million still without power

The sweltering heat has returned to Houston, making it worse for millions of people still without power after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas.

Millions of Houston residents have been left looking for a place to cool off and recharge as prolonged outages strain one of the nation’s largest cities.

Frustration is growing as the city appears to be reeling from a less powerful storm than previous ones. State officials are now under scrutiny over whether Houston’s power company was adequately prepared, including one who said he would reserve judgment until power is restored.

Nearly 36 hours after Beryl made landfall, Texas’ lieutenant governor announced that a sports and event complex would be used to temporarily house up to 250 patients from a local hospital who are ready to be discharged but cannot be sent home due to power outages.

Read more: Third hiker dies at Grand Canyon in three weeks amid scorching temperatures of 120 degrees in the shade

People are doing their best to cope. “We can handle the situation, but we can’t handle the kids,” said Walter Perez, 49, as he arrived early Tuesday at famed pastor Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch, which served as a refreshment center and handed out 40-packs of water.

Perez recounted how his family – including his wife, a three-year-old son, a three-week-old daughter and his father-in-law – had to leave their apartment after a night he described as “bad, bad, bad, bad”.

Temperatures in Houston climbed back into the 90s Tuesday, with humidity levels expected to make the heat feel even hotter. The National Weather Service flagged the conditions as potentially dangerous, especially given widespread power outages affecting air conditioning systems.

Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall early Monday as a Category 1 storm, is now blamed for at least seven deaths in the United States — one in Louisiana, six in Texas and 11 others in the Caribbean.

As of Tuesday, nearly 2 million homes and businesses in the Houston area were still without power, a slight improvement from the peak of more than 2.7 million reported by PowerOutage.us on Monday.

For many residents, it is a distressing déjà vu, recalling the storms in May that killed eight people and left nearly a million people without power amid floodwaters.

With refrigerators rendered unusable and the heat becoming unbearable, residents are desperate for relief. Long lines form wherever there is a possibility of electricity, whether at fast food restaurants, food trucks or gas stations.

People flock to fast-food restaurants like KFC, Jack in the Box and Denny’s not only for a bite to eat, but also to escape the heat, if only for a moment. Dwight Yell, 54, who had electricity in his home, brought a disabled neighbor who wasn’t so lucky to Denny’s for a meal.

Yell expressed frustration with the lack of storm warnings from city and state officials, lamenting that better communication could have helped residents prepare more effectively: “They didn’t give us enough warning, where we might be able to get gas or be prepared to leave town if the lights went out.”

Robin Taylor, a Denny’s takeout customer, is tired of constantly battling the weather. Since her home was destroyed by storms in May, she’s been living in a hotel.

When Beryl hit, her room was flooded. She’s frustrated that Houston didn’t seem to be prepared for the Category 1 hurricane, even though it’s survived much stronger hurricanes before.

“No wifi, no electricity, and it’s hot outside. It’s dangerous for people. That’s really the big problem,” Taylor said. “People are going to die because of this heat in their homes.”

Texas Emergency Management Director Nim Kidd stressed that restoring power is the primary goal. CenterPoint Energy in Houston has pledged to restore power to 1 million customers by the end of the day Wednesday.

For some, however, it could take several days or longer for power to be restored. Acting Gov. Dan Patrick, who is filling in for Gov. Greg Abbott while he is overseas, has stressed that nursing homes and assisted living facilities are top priorities. FEMA said 16 hospitals were running on generators as of Tuesday morning.

Patrick is pushing utilities to restore power quickly and plans to reevaluate their efforts ahead of the storm. A CenterPoint Energy executive supported the company’s preparation and response to the storm.

A state of emergency was declared in parts of Louisiana Tuesday afternoon by Governor Jeff Landry after heavy damage from fallen trees, damaged homes and power outages affecting thousands of people.

Beryl, the storm that made landfall, appeared much less threatening than its deadly Category 5 trajectory that ravaged parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Beryl, however, has the distinction of being the first storm to reach Category 5 status in the Atlantic. After its destructive passage, which caused more than $6.4 million in damage to crops and infrastructure, Jamaican authorities warned residents Monday of imminent food shortages.