There is a Race to Get Power Back on at 1.3m After Hurricane Beryl While a Dangerous Heat Wave Continues
NEW ORLEANS— Two days after Hurricane Beryl hit land on the Gulf Coast, more than 1.3 million people in Texas still didn’t have power Wednesday night. This meant that many of them couldn’t cool off during a dangerous heat wave.
There were at least 11 deaths in the U.S. and nine in the Caribbean because of the storm. It was still raining in the Great Lakes and New England on Wednesday night, even though it was no longer a tropical hurricane.
The Houston area was still under a heat warning on Thursday. The heat index, which is a way to measure how hot it feels when humidity is added in, was expected to be around 100 degrees.
“This heat is especially dangerous if you don’t have power and have to do hard work outside.” “Please drink plenty of water and follow safe generator practices,” the Houston National Weather Service said.
The weather service says it felt like 102 degrees in Houston around noon on Wednesday.
In Houston, Melissa Hunziker is barely able to handle the heat without power: “Our house is actually pretty cool right now, but we know that will change quickly ahead.”
“We have a portable fan that runs on a battery that can be charged.” “That helped last night, but I don’t think we’ll stay another night,” she said.
Not only is there a lack of power, but cellphone service has also been cut off, which makes it hard to get emergency information, Hunziker said.
Keaton Cravens and Kassie Rieger were in Houston helping people who needed it. For Rieger, it’s just important that people stay safe and help their friends as much as they can.
CenterPoint Energy, the main power company in the Houston area, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had restored power to more than 1 million of the 2.26 million people who had been without it since Beryl hit.
“We’re going to hold CenterPoint responsible,” Mayor John Whitmire said at a news gathering on Wednesday. “CenterPoint’s going to have to do a better job.”
The city has opened cooling areas and places to get ice and water. Whitmire said that drivers should stay home after dark if they can because all of the city’s traffic lights are out.
CenterPoint said that some places might not have power again for days.
There are 2.1 million people in Harris County, and more than 980,000 of them were without power at 4 p.m. The company’s online record showed that on Wednesday. The company said that the key parts of CenterPoint’s energy system are still in good shape. These include its transmission towers and substations.
According to poweroutage.us, about 1.3 million people, including those who aren’t served by CenterPoint, were without power Wednesday night.
The senior vice president for electric business at CenterPoint, Lynnae Wilson, said in a statement, “We take our responsibility to serve our customers and work as safely and as quickly as possible to restore service very seriously.” “At the same time, we know our customers are frustrated and get angry when their power goes out.”
Another risk that comes with power outages is carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.
A lot of people have called in sick with carbon monoxide in the last 24 hours, said Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña on Wednesday.
Peña said that generators should never be used inside. “Don’t have them anywhere near your home, anywhere near an opening or a door,” he stated. Aside from that, some people are running their cars in their garages to charge their tools. He said that the exhaust from these cars can quickly kill a family.
Before it became a hurricane, Beryl was about 80 miles west of Buffalo, New York, at 11 p.m. The National Hurricane Center said it was moving east-northeast at 20 mph.
It said that 2 to 4 inches of rain could fall in some parts of the eastern Great Lakes and New England from Wednesday night through Thursday morning.
At least 11 people have died in the U.S. since Beryl hit land on Monday. Many of them were killed when trees fell on their homes, causing floods and other problems across the country.
Ten of the deaths happened in Texas, and one happened in Louisiana, according to the authorities.
Based on government reports to NBC News, five of the people who died in Texas were in Harris County, which is home to Houston. Oxygen pollution caused the deaths of two people in Harris County, Texas.
At the press conference, Nim Kidd, who is in charge of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said that the city of Houston had a shortage of ambulances. Twenty-five more cars were sent to help with 911 calls, and overnight, more paramedics were sent to hospital emergency rooms.
The Houston Airport System also said on Wednesday that it was fixing up the runways and having trouble hiring because of Beryl. This is happening during the busy summer travel season.
“Our hearts grieve for all Texans who were affected by Hurricane Beryl, especially our fellow Texans who tragically lost their lives or were injured,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement Tuesday while he was in Asia on an economic development mission.
“We also will continue to stay in contact with electrical providers about the necessity to quickly restore power,” he told us.
President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster, which means that the government will pay up to 75% of the costs of cleaning up the mess and taking other emergency steps.
“We will be with the people of Texas until they are better,” Biden said in a statement.