Frustration mounts in Houston heat after Beryl leaves city, leaving millions without power – Sun Sentinel

By JUAN A. LOZANO and MARK VANCLEAVE

HOUSTON (AP) — Many of the millions of people without power after Hurricane Beryl slammed into Texas sweltered and groaned Tuesday as the storm cut off access to air conditioning, food and water and stifling heat and humidity lashed the nation’s fourth-largest city.

Frustration grew in Houston, which appeared to have buckled under a less powerful storm than previous ones. State officials were questioned about whether utilities were prepared in advance, and at least one said they would wait until the lights came back on to decide.

“We can handle it, but not the kids,” said Walter Perez, 49, as he arrived early Tuesday at famed pastor Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch, which was serving as a cooling center and handing out 40-packs of water to passing cars.

Perez said he, his wife, their 3-year-old son and 3-week-old daughter, along with his father-in-law, left their apartment after a night he described as “bad, bad, bad, bad.”

A heat advisory went into effect through Wednesday for the Houston area and beyond, with temperatures expected to soar to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) and humidity that could make it feel as hot as 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 degrees Celsius). The National Weather Service described the conditions as potentially dangerous given the lack of power and air conditioning.

Beryl, which made landfall early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, has been blamed for at least seven deaths in the United States — one in Louisiana and six in Texas — and at least 11 in the Caribbean. By midday Tuesday, it was a post-tropical cyclone centered over Arkansas and was expected to bring heavy rain and possible flooding to a swath extending to the Great Lakes and Canada.

According to PowerOutage.us, more than two million Houston homes and businesses were without power Tuesday, down from a peak of more than 2.7 million on Monday. For many, it was a miserable repeat of the May storms that killed eight people and left nearly a million people without power in flooded streets.

Food rotted in dilapidated refrigerators in neighborhoods that needed air conditioning. Long lines of cars and people lined up outside any fast-food restaurant, food truck or gas station that had electricity and was open.

Customers lined up for a block to eat at KFC, Jack in the Box or Denny’s, or just to get some fresh air for a few minutes. Dwight Yell, 54, had electricity in his home but took a disabled neighbor, who didn’t, to Denny’s for a bite to eat.

He complained that city and state officials failed to adequately warn residents of a storm that was initially expected to make landfall much further down the coast: “They didn’t give us enough warning, where we might be able to get gas or prepare to leave town in case the power went out.”

Robin Taylor, who gets her takeout from Denny’s, was tired of being in the same situation. She’s been living in a hotel since her home was damaged by the May storms. When Beryl arrived, her hotel room was flooded.

She was angry that Houston appeared unprepared to handle a Category 1 storm after weathering much stronger storms in the past.

“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.”

Nim Kidd, head of the state’s Division of Emergency Management, said at a news conference with other officials that restoring power was the top priority. And in Washington, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden had approved a major disaster declaration. Emergency workers hope to have power restored to another million people by the end of the day, she said.

It could take several days to fully restore power in Texas after Beryl knocked out 10 transmission lines. The top priorities for restoring power are nursing homes and assisted living facilities, said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is serving as acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the country. Sixteen hospitals were running on generators as of Tuesday morning, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Patrick urged utilities to restore power “as quickly as possible.” Patrick added that he would assess later whether utilities had taken appropriate steps before the storm to organize a rapid response.

CenterPoint Energy, which covers much of the Houston area, said it was mobilizing about 12,000 workers from the area to help restore power. A company spokesperson said those workers were not in the Houston area before the storm hit, noting that initial forecasts called for it to travel much farther south.

Kyuta Allen took her family to a Houston community center to relax and use the internet for work and night classes she’s taking online.

“You can’t really do much when you’re hot,” she said, adding that it’s also difficult to sleep in the heat.

“During the day you can keep the doors open, but at night you have to barricade and lock them – lock yourself in like a sauna,” she said.

Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones, who visited a community center, said she heard about people waiting hours to get gas.

“It’s devastating when you lose everything in your refrigerator and you’re living paycheck to paycheck,” Briones said.

Beryl’s strength at midday Tuesday, with sustained winds near 30 mph (48 kph), is not expected to change much over the next two days. It is expected to bring heavy rain and possible flash flooding from the lower and middle Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

A flood warning has been issued for parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. A few tornadoes are possible in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, forecasters said.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon for parts of the state after trees were downed, homes damaged and thousands lost power.

When Beryl made landfall, it was far less powerful than the Category 5 monster that carved its deadly path across parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. But its winds and rain still toppled hundreds of trees that had already collapsed into waterlogged ground and stranded dozens of cars on flooded roads.

Beryl was the first storm to reach Category 5 status in the Atlantic. In Jamaica, officials said Monday that islanders will face food shortages after Beryl destroyed more than $6.4 million worth of crops and supporting infrastructure.

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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland contributed to this report.