Hurricane Beryl leaves 2.1 million people in darkness – Houston Public Media

More than 2.1 million people in the Houston area were without power as of midday Monday after Hurricane Beryl made direct landfall in the region.

That’s more than double the 900,000 people who lost power in May when a derecho unexpectedly hit the region. It took more than a week for those outages to be restored.

As of noon, CenterPoint Energy reported more than 5,500 separate outages across its coverage area.

The number of customers without power gradually increased throughout the morning as winds of more than 130 km/h battered the region. About 500,000 people were without power by 6 a.m., and the figure surpassed 1 million after 7 a.m.

RELATED: Houston Public Media Hurricane and Tropical Storm Tracker

Customers seeking more detailed information on outages and restoration will have to do without the company’s outage map, which was taken offline following the derecho and remained offline during Beryl’s passage.

CenterPoint is asking customers to stay away from downed power lines and instead report them to a hotline: 713-207-2222.

People without power do not need to report their outage to CenterPoint, the company said.

RELATED: Beryl blows into Houston: Hurricane makes landfall as Category 1; two deaths reported

Beryl made landfall early Monday morning as a Category 1 storm near Matagorda.