HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Over 1.7 million households are still without power a day after Beryl lashed southeast Texas and left behind a path of darkness and destruction.
CenterPoint Energy, the primary power provider for Houston, said customers should expect a multi-day process to restore their electricity.
See the latest updates from CenterPoint’s Outage Tracker here:
The ongoing outages come as a Heat Advisory was issued for much of the Houston area on Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to reach the low 90s by the afternoon, and with high humidity, heat index values will make it feel like the triple digits.
Cooling centers will open across the Houston area to help people without air conditioning during the Heat Advisory.
Lakewood Church
- 3700 Southwest Fwy
- Opens at 8 a.m.
Southwest Multi-Service Center
- 6400 High Star Dr.
- Open from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
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On Monday evening, Alyssa Oshodi, the company’s director of communications, told Eyewitness News they are confident about a multiple-day event to assess the damage to its system and restore power.
Over 2.2 million customers were without power during Beryl’s height — more than 90% of CenterPoint Energy customers.
CenterPoint explained that 12,000 additional field resources were deployed from outside agencies to assist their crews. Chicago’s ConEd was among the companies providing workers to the region.
According to Oshodi, CenterPoint is prioritizing areas where crews can restore more customers and where there are critical care facilities — like nursing homes and assisted living centers.
So, when should customers get back power? CenterPoint said it expects to restore 1 million impacted customers by the end of the day on Wednesday.
“While we tracked the projected path, intensity and timing for Hurricane Beryl closely for many days, this storm proved the unpredictability of hurricanes as it delivered a powerful blow across our service territory and impacted a lot of lives,” Lynnae Wilson, CenterPoint Energy’s senior vice president, said. “We know we have important work ahead for our customers who depend on us, especially during the hot summer months.”
Another regional electricity provider, Entergy, reported about 201,000 outages as of noon on Monday, with the majority located in Montgomery, Jefferson, Walker, and Liberty counties. The count included more than 6,100 Galveston County customers, including the entire Bolivar Peninsula.
