Houston battles power outages, scorching heat from Beryl

(Bloomberg) — Houston is grappling with the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, with power outages, blocked roads, internet disruptions and spotty gas access expected to persist long after the storm’s floodwaters recede.

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More than 1 million homes and businesses are at risk of being without power through at least Wednesday night, according to CenterPoint Energy Inc., the region’s main electricity provider. The outages, which knocked out power to more than 2.5 million customers in the region at their peak, knocked out cell towers, traffic lights and a major data center, while residents sweltered in a heat wave. Many sought shelter in air-conditioned hotel rooms, only to find the rooms were either completely blacked out or booked.

The storm itself has moved on. Beryl, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone after hitting Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, brought heavy rain Tuesday to Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, making its way northeast. The National Weather Service warned that upstate New York and New England faced flash flooding risks Wednesday.

But in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, recovery will take time. AccuWeather Inc. estimated that Beryl’s toll in the United States, including damage and economic losses, could reach $28 billion to $32 billion. The Associated Press reported at least seven deaths in the United States, six in Texas and one in Louisiana.

Patricia Chapman and her mother Michelle Brown, who own a seafood catering business, were stuck at home without power, unable to work or even talk to customers because cell service kept dropping out.

“We’re losing money,” said Brown, 55. “Normally, we’d be working right now.”

Instead, they tried to care for Chapman’s four children, all under 10, in 95-degree heat. They looked for hotel rooms, but were unsuccessful. Chapman, 34, said the town seemed less prepared for Beryl than it had been for some of the other storms it has faced in the past, such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

“It’s not as dramatic as Harvey, but the power outage that lasts this long is a disaster,” she said. “It feels like we weren’t prepared.”

Mayor John Whitmire said he understands the frustration, but assured residents that CenterPoint is working to restore power as quickly as possible. Nine fire stations are out of service due to the lack of power and access to backup generators, which he called outrageous.

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“The public has questions, they have a right to get answers,” he said at an evening news conference. “We’re in constant contact with CenterPoint. We’re holding them accountable.”

Acting Texas Gov. Dan Patrick said the focus now is on restoring power and then reviewing CenterPoint’s preparedness and response.

Gas, cellular disturbances

Misa Lewis, 28, drove for hours before finding gas at a Roadster convenience store in Westchase, west of Houston.

“I filled up my tank at 12 gas stations, and I’m completely out of gas,” she said. “I didn’t even think I could make it. Only God brought me here.” After filling up, she went to the store to buy a can of gas so she could take some home.

Travis Profitt, national director of network disaster recovery for AT&T Inc., said the company’s cell towers survived Beryl’s high winds, but many were without power. AT&T deployed more than 200 portable generators to cell towers around Houston to restore service. Just getting around the city, with its traffic lights out and streets blocked, was a logistical challenge, he said.

“You just have to be patient and understand that there are a lot of people trying to do the same thing,” Profitt said.

Lumen Technologies Inc. said power outages from the hurricane caused partial service interruptions for its Houston-area customers. The internet provider’s local data center, a 51,300-square-foot property in the city’s Greenspoint neighborhood, relies on backup generators.

“The commercial power outage is affecting several businesses in the area, including Lumen,” spokesman Mark Molzen said in an email. “We are maintaining partial service using generators” while working with the power company on the issue.

The outage highlights the vulnerability of data centers at a time when artificial intelligence has made them more important than ever. The growing power and cooling needs of these facilities have become increasingly controversial, with data center energy consumption now outstripping available energy reserves in many parts of the world.

–With assistance from Naureen S. Malik, Joe Carroll, Brandon Mioduszewski, Tope Alake, Lynn Doan, and Julie Fine.

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