HOUSTON (AP) — The return of scorching heat in Houston has exacerbated the suffering for those still without power following Hurricane Beryl hitting Texas. Residents are looking for places to cool off and refuel as the prolonged outages strain one of the nation’s largest cities.
There is growing frustration in Houston that the city seemed unprepared for a storm that was less powerful compared to previous ones. State officials are facing scrutiny over whether the power utility servicing much of the area adequately planned for the storm.
Over 36 hours after Beryl made landfall, Texas’ lieutenant governor announced on Tuesday that a sports and event complex would be used to temporarily house up to 250 hospital patients awaiting discharge but unable to go home due to power outages.
Individuals are doing their best to cope with the situation.
“We can handle it, but not the kids,” Walter Perez expressed as he arrived at celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston on Tuesday, where they were providing cooling services and distributing packs of water.
Perez explained that his wife, 3-year-old son, 3-week-old daughter, and father-in-law had to leave their apartment after a challenging night he described as “bad, bad, bad, bad.”
Temperatures in the Houston area on Tuesday reached back into the 90s with high humidity making it feel even hotter. Similar heat and humidity were expected for Wednesday. The National Weather Service warned that the conditions could be risky due to the lack of power and air conditioning.
Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane that made landfall early Monday, has been linked to at least seven deaths in the U.S.—one in Louisiana and six in Texas—and at least 11 deaths in the Caribbean.
More than 1.7 million homes and businesses in the Houston area were without electricity on Tuesday night, down from a peak of over 2.7 million on Monday, reported by PowerOutage.us. For many, this was a miserable repetition after storms in May killed eight people and left nearly 1 million without power amid flooded streets.
Customers lined up on Tuesday to eat at KFC, Jack in the Box, or Denny’s. Dwight Yell took a neighbor without power to Denny’s for a meal.
Yell criticized city and state officials for not providing sufficient warning about a storm initially projected to hit much farther down the coast: “They didn’t give us enough warning, where maybe we could go get gas or prepare to leave town if the lights go out.”
Robin Taylor, who got takeout from Denny’s, has been residing in a hotel since her home was affected by storms in May. When Beryl struck, her hotel room flooded.
“No WiFi, no power, and it’s hot outside,” Taylor lamented. “People will perish in this heat in their homes.”
Nim Kidd, the head of the state’s division of emergency management, emphasized that power restoration was the top priority. CenterPoint Energy in Houston aims to restore power to 1 million customers by the end of Wednesday.
Acting Governor Dan Patrick of Texas, while Governor Greg Abbott is out of the country, stated that nursing homes and assisted living centers were the primary concern. Sixteen hospitals were operating on generator power on Tuesday morning, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
An executive from CenterPoint Energy, covering much of the Houston area, defended the utility’s preparedness and response.
“From my perspective, to have a storm pass at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, have those crews come in late in the evening, and be ready by 5 a.m. to begin work is quite impressive because we’re talking about thousands of crews,” Brad Tutunjian, vice president of regulatory policy at CenterPoint Energy, stated at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Kyuta Allen took her family to a Houston community center to cool down and access the internet.
“During the day, you can leave the doors open, but at night you have to seal up and lock up—feeling like you’re in a sauna,” she described.
Associated Press journalists Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
