Houston residents in heatwave still without power after Hurricane Beryl

July 13 (UPI) — Nearly 700,000 electricity customers in Houston were still without power Saturday, and most of them were not expected to be reconnected until next week.

Of those, nearly 590,000 are supplied by Houston’s main electricity provider, CenterPoint Energy, according to Poweroutage.us. About 2.26 million CenterPoint customers were initially without power after Hurricane Beryl ripped through Texas on Monday, killing at least 10 people in the Lone Star State.

Advertisement

CenterPoint serves 2.6 million people in the state.

CenterPoint said it is working quickly to repair damage to the region’s power grid, but estimates that about 500,000 customers will not have power restored until next week.

In addition to residential customers, the outages affected vital infrastructure such as hospitals, senior living facilities and water treatment plants.

Boil water alerts are in effect in eight counties in the Houston and Galveston areas, and distribution centers are distributing bottled water to people in need.

Texans, meanwhile, are suffering from a heat wave that is making it difficult to cool down, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit last week. High temperatures are expected to persist into next week.

Many people have expressed frustration with CenterPoint due to what they see as a lack of preparation for Beryl.

The utility responded to customer complaints that its outage map showed areas without power were being restored.

According to CenterPoint, those residents may be experiencing a “nesting outage,” meaning power has been restored to equipment serving the area, but some homes may still be without power due to a localized issue such as a damaged transformer or a tree falling on a service line.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told CNN that Gov. Gregg Abbott has called for an investigation into how CenterPoint and other utilities responded to the storm.

“I’m sure we’ll find there are things they could have done better,” Patrick said.

CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells told the Houston Chronicle he was proud of the company’s efforts, but acknowledged it could have responded better.

“I think we could do a better job of communicating our customers’ expectations, and I’m personally aware of that,” Wells said.

CenterPoint restored power to about 1.1 million people within 48 hours of the storm, Wells said.

CenterPoint initially mobilized about 3,000 contractors in anticipation of the storm, thinking it would stay west of Houston, but the utility called about 7,000 more as the storm appeared poised to make a direct hit on the city.

Meanwhile, shelters and cooling centers have been set up across the Houston metro area to help residents escape the stifling heat of their homes.

Houston Public Libraries, Harris County Precinct 4 and local YMCA centers have all opened their doors to help residents escape the heat.

Additionally, the Houston Food Bank supports dozens of food distribution sites and shelters across the region.