Houston derecho 2024: thousands of Houstonians remain without electricity or internet

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Thousands of people are still without power and about 24,000 homes still have no Internet access after deadly storms ravaged the Houston area last week.

“It’s a disaster area. A friend of mine called it a hellscape,” Tammis Thomas said of a giant tree split over a fence.

Ahead, there are piles of debris. Thomas spent most of the day on the front porch of his Sunset Heights home with his dog, Polo.

It’s cooler outside than inside.

“I’m done with it. It’s no way to live,” Thomas said. “It’s not a human city, I don’t think.”

Thomas is also one of about 24,000 Comcast customers in the Houston area without internet. She is lucky to be able to recharge her phone with a neighbor’s generator.

“For example, if my 89-year-old mother lived alone in Houston, it would be a disaster for her,” she said.

For many, Internet service is vital for emergency care. For others, it’s a livelihood.

Teann Parker works two remote jobs from her home in the Yorkdale neighborhood near West Little York and Highway 290. Her internet just got reconnected Wednesday afternoon, but the problem wasn’t even her own electricity.

She had to wait for power to be restored to the Comcast equipment that serves her neighborhood.

“I missed quite a bit of work and you assume once the power comes back on you can go back to your life as normal,” Parker said.

Frustration is mounting, even six days after the storm, and it’s a breaking point for Thomas.

“It’s a build-up. It’s not like it’s my first rodeo in Houston, a disaster rodeo. I don’t think other people live with that kind of perpetual,” she said . “When this happened, I was watching the news, and it was like, oh, hurricane season is starting in two weeks, and it’s going to be a very active season.”

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