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Most of Houston Loses Power as Hurricane Beryl Delivers Latest Blow


These translations are done via Google Translate
  • Storm left 85% of city without power, including mayor’s house
  • Residents told to stay home after three deaths are reported
A resident surveys the flooded interstate following Hurricane Beryl landfall in Houston, Texas, on July 8.
A resident surveys the flooded interstate following Hurricane Beryl landfall in Houston, Texas, on July 8.Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Bloomberg

The majority of Houston remained without power in Tropical Storm Beryl’s wake, and authorities warned the blackout could last days even as heat builds across the battered region.

Beryl left the nation’s fourth-largest city a morass of flooded streets, downed trees, darkened traffic lights and power lines lying on the ground. Three deaths were blamed on the storm, including a Houston Police Department employee who drowned in his car. Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane when it struck Texas early Monday, already had killed 11 people in a week-long rampage across the Caribbean.

About 85% of the homes and businesses served by the Houston area’s main electric utility — CenterPoint Energy Inc. — lost power. As of 8 p.m. local time Monday, the company had restored supply to about 285,000 of the 2.27 million customers affected, and expected to have 1 million back online by the end of Wednesday, the company said in a statement.

Still, while CenterPoint brought in more than 10,000 workers to restore service, the company warned parts of its local network could require replacement, not just repair.

“I do not have power at my house – I know what it’s like,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at an evening press conference. “CenterPoint is doing everything they can.”

Those without power will face a new threat Tuesday, as high temperatures follow the storm. The National Weather Service posted a heat advisory for the region lasting until Wednesday, with heat index values forecast as high as 105F (40C).

Power Outages Around Houston

Percentage of customers without power

Source: PowerOutage.usNote: Outage data as of 4 p.m. July 8, Texas time. Counties with fewer than 5% of customers without power are not mapped. Data not available for Fort Bend county.

Houston is the oil capital of the western hemisphere, and a crucial hub of US petrochemical production, global shipping and medical research. Perched on the edge of hurricane-stalked sea, it is no stranger to storms.

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This year, disastrous weather has repeatedly battered the city and its metro area’s 7 million residents. A parade of storms has flooded streets and homes, ripped windows from skyscrapers and plunged millions into darkness, sometimes for days. Floods struck some of the city’s suburbs in May, followed by two wind storms that left downtown sidewalks covered in broken window glass.

Texas has become a showcase for extreme weather fueled by climate change, from supercharged hurricanes along the Gulf of Mexico to heat waves and withering drought in the state’s dusty west. This year saw the state’s largest wildfire on record burn through the Panhandle.

Beryl initially was forecast to land farther west, but instead it tracked close to the city. Its winds tore part of the roof off suburban Sugar Land’s city hall, while a local news station showed rescuers plucking a stranded driver from the top of his nearly submerged truck.

One resident was killed by a falling tree, and another died in a fire sparked by lightning, Whitmire said. At one point Monday morning, the city was logging 400 calls to 911 each hour, he said.

Houston officials urged residents to stay at home Tuesday to let utility crews and first responders assess the damage and check on the vulnerable. Water and debris still block many streets, and traffic lights may be useless.

“I want to emphasize, don’t let the clear skies fool you,” Whitmire said. “We still have dangerous conditions.”

— With assistance from Joe Carroll, Rafaela Jinich, Tope Alake, Cedric Sam, Jason Kao, Ali Juell, Naureen S Malik, and Dan Murtaugh

(Updates with power outage numbers in third paragraph.)



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