HOUSTON — Overnight thunderstorms swept through the Houston area Saturday, leaving more than 80,000 CenterPoint Energy customers without power and prompting widespread outage reports across Harris County. At one point, ABC13’s outage tracker showed over 123,000 residents affected.
CenterPoint Ramps Up Emergency Response
Anticipating severe weather, CenterPoint Energy had already deployed 1,200 extra crew members — including line workers, vegetation management teams, and underground technicians — across 12 service stations throughout Greater Houston. The company also stationed equipment and vehicles in key locations to ensure quick response times once outages began.
Nathan Brownell, CenterPoint’s vice president of resilience and capital delivery, said the company’s meteorology team was tracking the storm system closely while coordinating with local and state emergency management officials.
“Those crews are actively stocking equipment and vehicles so they can quickly and safely respond to any type of service interruption,” Brownell said. “The more preparation we do ahead of time, the better the service and the quicker the restoration.”
Storm Brings Heavy Rain and Flood Watch
The Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management issued a flood watch from Friday night through Sunday morning as the powerful system moved across Texas. Forecasters warned of heavy rain, strong winds, and localized flooding across low-lying areas.
Safety Reminders for Residents
Officials are urging residents to avoid downed power lines and report them to CenterPoint immediately. Customers can track restoration progress through CenterPoint’s Outage Tracker or sign up for Power Alert Service updates.
“We are taking this storm seriously,” Brownell added. “We’re preparing for it and will respond quickly and safely to all outages. We ask our customers to continue monitoring the weather for their own safety.”
As crews work to restore power, memories remain fresh of Hurricane Beryl, when similar scenes of fallen power lines left parts of Houston without electricity for days.
For the latest outage information and restoration updates, visit the CenterPoint Energy Outage Tracker.