More than 1.6 million homes in Texas still without power after Hurricane Beryl

Chris Benson

July 10, 2024 at 12:35 p.m.·4 min read

Vehicles trapped in flood waters on Monday following heavy rain from Hurricane Beryl. U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday granted a federal emergency disaster declaration to help speed recovery efforts in 121 Texas counties that were affected by Hurricane Beryl. Photo Provided by Carlos Ramirez/EPA-EFE

July 10 (UPI) -- More than 1.6 million homes in Texas still had no power by Wednesday morning in the middle of sweltering heat in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl as it still could be several more days until power is fully restored in some places.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday granted a federal emergency disaster declaration to help speed recovery efforts in 121 Texas counties that were affected by Hurricane Beryl.

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott is away on a diplomatic mission. The declaration will reimburse Texas up to 75% of recovery efforts.

According to the National Weather Service, a heat advisory is currently in effect for all of Southeast Texas where a large part of the state is still with no power. The heat index is expected to feel 106 degrees Fahrenheit.

"With power outages continuing across [Southeast Texas,] the lack of air conditioning will aggravate the risk of heat-related illnesses as high temperatures warm into the lower and mid-90s," NWS in Houston advised.

A man looks on Monday at a fallen tree knocked over by wind and rain from Hurricane Beryl in Houston, Tex. The storm, which already caused widespread damage last week in the Caribbean, was downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed over the Gulf of Mexico before regaining strength into a hurricane. Photo Provided by Carlos Ramirez/EPA-EFE

CenterPoint Energy, the Houston area's main energy supplier, said Tuesday night that power had already been restored to 850,000 customers which was one-third of the 2.26 million customers who had been impacted in Beryl's path.

"Right behind public safety is restoring city and county services with the highest priority of electricity and energy," Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Tuesday. "We're doing everything we possibly can to see that your electricity is restored."

CenterPoint officials said power would be restored to 1 million customers by Wednesday, according to Houston Chronicle.

The company's website showed 1,357,077 customers affected by outages just before noon Wednesday with 11,653 active outages as 563,743 customers got power in the last 24 hours.

More than 1.2 million of CenterPoint's more than 2.1 million Harris County customers reportedly still had no power by Tuesday afternoon as the company reported the "main elements" of its energy systems was intact following the hurricane.

However, it claimed work crews had already walked 4,500 miles by foot to check circuits using helicopter and drone surveillance in preparation for the large task ahead.

"We have made solid progress and exceeded the number of customer restorations following Hurricane Ike," Lynnae Wilson, CenterPoint's Senior Vice President of Electric Business, told multiple news sources on Tuesday. "But we have a lot of important work ahead, especially in the hardest-hit areas where the work will be more complex and time-consuming."

Interactive maps provided by CenterPoint, which pointed to delays in reporting, indicated how the effort to restore is on an active "Step 2" phase.

"We know we have a lot of customers counting on us to do our jobs as safely and quickly as possible, and that will continue to be our highest priority," Wilson stated Tuesday.

According to the map, work crews appear to be in the very active stages between assessing Beryl's damage and the scope of work needed with some already in active repairing stages, along with scattered power outages shown in the area.

"Please be prepared for restoration efforts to take several days," the company map advised.

Texans have in recent years gone through a pattern of power outages and other electric grid issues as climate patterns change as both heat and freezing weather take their toll on the Texas power grid.

Extreme heat knocked out power July 2022 during one Houston area news station's weather forecast.

Meanwhile, the state suffered catastrophic power issues when 200 people died after the grid failed in February 2021. Then in May and June that year, the state's system was impacted by widespread solar farm shutdowns.

Texas citizens have often been asked to conserve and cut back on their own electricity use as punishing heat wave like now across Texas drive record-high power demand.

It arrives as the Biden administration in May unveiled an '"unprecedented" 21-state initiative to modernize the ailing U.S. power grid in a move Texas opted not to take part in.

BBC
First images of Jasper after 100m high wildfire hit
The fierce wildfire in the Canadian town of Jasper melted cars to the road and turned homes to ash.
BBC
'Monster' fires may have destroyed half of historic Canadian town
The blazes are still out of control as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible.
The Canadian Press
Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth's temperatures soar to record highs
BENI MELLAL, Morocco (AP) — In the unrelenting heat of Morocco’s Middle Atlas, people were sleeping on rooftops. Hanna Ouhbour needed refuge too, but she was outside a hospital waiting for her diabetic cousin who was in a room without air conditioning.
The Weather Network
Storm threat continues overnight for Winnipeg, northwest Ontario
Look out for a continuing risk for strong to severe thunderstorms through the overnight hours in southern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario
The Weather Network - Video
This typhoon could alter your weather to start August
Typhoon Gaemi is on track to move into the jetstream, impacting our weather here in Canada as we head into the first week of August.More details with Meteorologist Melinda Singh.
The Weather Network
Typhoon set to bring a warm start to August for parts of Canada
We could see above-seasonal temperatures to start August thanks to a typhoon in the western Pacific
The Canadian Press
California's largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West
California's largest active fire exploded in size on Friday evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger.
The Weather Network - Video
Severe Weather Update for Ontario and Manitoba
Environment Canada has issued a tornado watch for NW ON. Two rounds of storms will develop today across SE Manitoba and NW ON which will bring large hail, strong winds, and even a tornado or two. Details with Meteorologist Dylan Kikuta
USA TODAY
National Hurricane Center tracking 'area of disturbed weather' in the central Atlantic
The National Hurricane Center is tracking an 'area of disturbed weather' in the central Atlantic but don't expect it to survive Saharan dust.
WDSU - New Orleans
Scattered storms this weekend and a look at possible development in the tropics
Meteorologist Devon Lucie tracks the storms out responsible for flood alerts Friday Evening, then goes immediately to the tropics where there is a low chance of tropical development in the Atlantic to the North Caribbean by next week and shows who is in the area for the most concerns for keeping track of the system at this time, then times out when storms are likeliest for you this weekend and what that will mean for temperatures.
USA TODAY
'Nightmare': Wildfires burn one of most beautiful places in the world
Fires in the Canadian Rockies burned through the popular tourist town of Jasper and damaged parts of Jasper National Park.
The Canadian Press
Wood pellets production boomed to feed EU demand. It's come at a cost for Black people in the South
GLOSTER, Miss. (AP) — This southern Mississippi town's expansive wood pellet plant was so close to Shelia Mae Dobbins' home that she sometimes heard company loudspeakers. She says industrial residues coated her truck and she no longer enjoys spending time in the air outdoors.
The Canadian Press
Fires in the West are becoming ever bigger, consuming. Why and what can be done?
Decades of snuffing out fires at the first sign of smoke combined with climate change have laid the groundwork for a massive wildfire in northern California and scores of smaller ones across the western U.S. and Canada, experts say.
Reuters
California wildfire explodes, becomes largest in US
(Reuters) -Thousands of firefighters were battling a rapidly growing wildfire in northern California on Saturday after the blaze more than doubled in size in a 24-hour span. The Park Fire had burned more than 350,000 acres (141,640 hectares) about 90 miles (144 km) north of the state capital city of Sacramento as of Saturday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the fire and has directed his team to do everything possible to support efforts to fight it, a White House official said.
CNN
California’s Park Fire is now bigger than Phoenix while in Canada a blaze is scorching one of the largest national parks
California’s largest wildfire of the year has burned an area larger than the size of the entire city of Los Angeles, destroyed dozens of buildings and forced thousands of residents to flee their homes as wildfires wreak havoc in the Western United States. Meanwhile, homes and businesses in a popular Canadian resort town were incinerated as a wildfire continued to roar through the area. Here’s the latest:
The Weather Network - Video
Multiple Rounds of Severe Weather Expected in Ontario and Manitoba
An unstable air mass will build into Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba this afternoon and evening. Storms will fire off in the afternoon and evening hours with large hail and strong winds. Details with Meteorologist Dylan Kikuta
The Canadian Press
Heat wave forces Iran to shutter government offices and banks. Electricity consumption soars
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A heat wave blanketing Iran has forced authorities to cut operating hours at various facilities Saturday and order all government and commercial institutions to shutter the following day as hospitals receive over 200 people for heatstroke treatment.
CNN
California town decimated by 2018 wildfire threatened again by state’s largest this year as fires plague Oregon and Canada
An evacuation warning has been issued for the town of Paradise, where residents say the smell of smoke and sight of advancing flames on the horizon is enough to retraumatize them with the same horrors unleashed by California’s deadliest wildfire in 2018, which incinerated much of the town.
PA Media: UK News
Improving weather generates abundance of strawberries for sale
About 200 tonnes of surplus strawberries from growers across the country will go on sale in the weeks ahead after more sunny days.
Global News
Alberta wildfires: Jasper blaze sees 358 structures destroyed, Parks Canada says
The scope of the damage from the Jasper, Alta., wildfire is much clearer now, as Parks Canada says 358 structures in the town have been destroyed — about 30 per cent of the townsite. As Heather Yourex-West explains, most critical infrastructure has survived the fire.

Latest Stories