HOUSTON — Pressure mounted Wednesday on Houston’s power utility as millions of residents still had no power nearly three days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall, stoking questions over how a city that is all too familiar with destructive weather was unable to better withstand a Category 1 storm.
The storm's lingering impact for many in Texas, however, was the wallop to the power supply that left much of the nation's fourth-largest city sweltering days later in hot and humid conditions that the National Weather Service deemed potentially dangerous. Power outages peaked at 2.7 million customers after the storm made landfall Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.
CenterPoint would not ask third-party workers from other companies and municipalities to pre-position and “ride out” the storm “because that is not safe,” Tutunjian said. Instead they are asked to be as close as possible to respond after the storm moves through. But council members pressed for answers about why CenterPoint, which has been the Houston area for about 100 years, hasn't been more aggressive in trimming trees during calm weather or putting more of its power lines underground. The company has been putting new lines underground in residential areas for decades, Tutunjian responded.
Raquel Desimone has lived in the Houston area since about 2000 and experienced many storms. Still, she was surprised and frustrated having to scramble yet again for power and shelter from the heat.