Less than 100,000 without power, CenterPoint still works

The number of CenterPoint Energy customers still without power fell below 100,000 Tuesday evening, five days after 100 mph winds swept through the Houston area.

At least eight people died following last week’s storm and nearly a million residents were left without power. High winds uprooted trees and blew out windows across the city. Two tornadoes hit the Cypress area and Waller County

At a news conference in north Houston, a CenterPoint spokeswoman said 85 percent of customers affected by Thursday’s storm had their power restored.

The company still expects to “substantially complete” the restorations by Wednesday evening, said Michelle Hundley, Centerpoint’s external relations manager. She declined to define “substantially completed” by a percentage, but said to consider it a return to “business as usual.”

Hundley was joined at the briefing by Harris County Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Lesley Briones, Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairwoman Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock.

Metro has modified some routes and services to aid recovery from the storm, Brock said, including using its park-and-ride operation to transport first responders to work. However, park-and-ride services to the medical center remain open to the public.

Local bus services are also operating, although riders may experience some delays due to debris on the road, she said.

Light rail service has been restored on the Green and Purple lines; the northern part of the Red Line was served by buses. Metrolift services were operating normally, Brock said.

More than 7,000 CenterPoint linemen from across the country are working to restore power throughout the region, Hundley said.

At another news conference Tuesday afternoon, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo praised linemen from as far away as Missouri who worked in the heat.

“It was the cavalry we were waiting for,” Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo said people who don’t have power restored by Wednesday evening should call an electrician, saying the problem is likely on their end.

Weather damage and secondary issues slow restoration

Large downed trees and branches needing to be removed have slowed the restoration of power throughout the region, Hundley said, with the areas of Bellaire, Cypress, Baytown, Greenspoint, Humble and Spring Branch hardest hit.

Hundley also said some ongoing power outages could be blamed on “nested outages” or secondary issues resulting from unseen damage, as well as damage to a property’s weather protection. – the point of entry to the roof of a property where overhead power lines enter a building.

If most of your neighbors have power restored, but your house is still without power, it most likely means your weather head has been damaged, Hundley said. This will require an electrician to repair and cannot be repaired by CenterPoint employees, she added.

CenterPoint aware of all outages, despite inaccuracies

Despite the reported inaccuracies in the company’s online interactive map feature, CenterPoint said in a press release Tuesday afternoon that it was aware of all active power outages.

“Even if the interactive map shows an address or area being restored and the customer has not yet received power, CenterPoint is aware of this outage,” the release said. “Please be assured that the company is working to restore service as safely and quickly as possible to all customers without service.”

Hundley also said during Tuesday’s briefing that the map was intended to be CenterPoint’s best estimate of expected outages and repairs over time, not an exact measurement.

Officials tout unity, partnerships during storm recovery

Briones, Garcia and Whitmire each thanked CenterPoint for the utility’s continued efforts to restore power and took time to highlight resources available to residents in need.

Briones encouraged residents who have suffered property damage to apply for disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as soon as possible. She also noted that cooling and distribution centers across the county remain available to provide shelter for residents in need.

Whitmire assured residents that no neighborhood was being overlooked during the recovery process, while emphasizing that there was still work to be done.

More than 200 of the 401 traffic signals affected by the storm were still not working, Whitmire said. A six-block area of ​​downtown — from Louisiana Street to Travis Street and from McKinney Street to Polk Street — also remained closed as workers continued to clean up broken windows on the streets and repair broken windows in skyscrapers above.

Reporter Matt Sledge contributed to this story.

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