Houston residents suffocate after Beryl, more than 1.7 million still without power

HOUSTON (AP) — The return of oppressive heat to Houston has added to the misery of people still without power after Hurricane Beryl crashed in Texas and left residents searching for places to cool off and refuel as prolonged outages strained one of the nation’s largest cities.

Frustration is growing that Houston appears to have buckled under a less powerful storm than previous ones, and state officials are left to wonder whether the electric utility that covers much of the region prepared adequately.

Nearly 36 hours after Beryl’s landfall, Texas’ lieutenant governor said Tuesday that a sports and event complex would be used to temporarily house up to 250 hospital patients who are awaiting discharge but cannot be released to homes without power.

People were doing the best they could.

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

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

Maximum temperatures in the Houston area soared Tuesday to more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity making the feeling of heat even more intense. Similar heat and humidity were expected Wednesday. The National Weather Service described the conditions as potentially dangerous given the lack of electricity and air conditioning.

Beryl, The Category 1 hurricane, which made landfall early Monday, 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.

More than 1.7 million homes and businesses around Houston were without power Tuesday night, down from a peak of more than 2.7 million Monday. according to PowerOutage.usFor many, it was a miserable repeat after storms in may Eight people were killed and nearly a million people were left without power in flooded streets.

On Tuesday, customers lined up to eat at KFC, Jack in the Box and Denny’s. Dwight Yell took a disabled neighbor who had no electricity to Denny’s to get him food.

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 got takeout from Denny’s, has been living in a hotel since her home was damaged by storms that hit the city in May. When Beryl hit, her hotel room flooded.

“No wifi, no electricity, and it’s hot outside,” Taylor said. “People are going to die from this heat in their homes.”

Nim Kidd, head of the state’s Division of Emergency Management, stressed that restoring power is the top priority. CenterPoint Energy in Houston said it aims to restore power to 1 million customers by the end of the day Wednesday.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the country, said nursing homes and assisted living facilities are the top priority. Sixteen hospitals were running on generators Tuesday morning, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

An executive with CenterPoint Energy, which covers much of the Houston area, defended the company’s preparedness and response.

“From my perspective, to see a storm come through at 3 p.m., to see these crews come in late in the evening and have everything ready by 5 a.m. to go out and start working is pretty impressive because we’re talking about thousands of crews,” Brad Tutunjian, vice president of regulatory policy at CenterPoint Energy, said during a press briefing Tuesday.

Kyuta Allen took his family to a Houston community center to relax and use the internet.

“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.

___

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