Houston Blackout: Hurricane Beryl Leaves 2.2 Million Without Power
Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Houston region on Monday afternoon, cutting power to a staggering 2.2 million residents. This blackout is more than double the outages caused by the May derecho, which left over 900,000 homes powerless and took over a week to fix.
CenterPoint Energy Struggles with Massive Outages
By 2:30 p.m., CenterPoint Energy reported over 6,300 outages across its service area. The storm’s unexpected shift meant the company’s infrastructure took a harder hit than anyone forecasted.
“The storm veered off the originally expected course and more heavily impacted the company’s customers, systems, and infrastructure than previously anticipated,” said CenterPoint in a Monday statement.
CenterPoint warned that they must first assess damage before announcing a power restoration timetable. Lynnae Wilson, Senior VP of Electric Business, urged residents to prepare for extended blackouts, especially in the scorching heat.
“We understand how difficult it is to be without power for any amount of time, especially in the heat. We are laser-focused on the important and time-sensitive work that lies ahead,” Wilson said.
Power Cuts Surge As Winds Hit Over 80mph
Outages climbed rapidly during the morning as fierce winds tore through Houston. Around 500,000 homes were powerless by 6 a.m., doubling to over 1 million shortly after 7 a.m., and eventually smashing the 2 million mark by afternoon.
Sadly, Hurricane Beryl’s landfall early Monday near Matagorda as a Category One storm has already caused two reported deaths.
Restoration Efforts Underway But Challenges Remain
CenterPoint’s outage map remains offline since the May derecho, leaving customers in the dark about restoration progress. The utility promises to bring in an extra 10,000 workers from other utilities and set up a dozen staging sites around Houston.
The company asked residents to avoid downed power lines and report them via the hotline at 713-207-2222. Customers do not need to report outages themselves.
Houston residents face tough days ahead as crews race to repair the damage from Beryl’s savage hit.
