4 days Ago
HOUSTON — Two widespread disasters affected Houston over the summer, causing damage and disruptive power outages: the May 16 derecho and Hurricane Beryl which made landfall in Matagorda Bay on July 8. Millions of people lost power, causing Gov. Greg Abbott to call for a report on what caused the "unacceptable" response.
The report, released Thursday, listed 14 recommendations. The Public Utility Commission of Texas reviewed the responses of 16,560 Texans, reports from utilities and emergency managers and weather experts. Their goal was to review the events and preparedness of the utilities and to develop recommendations for the power companies and legislature.
CenterPoint came under fire after 2.2 million customers were left without power after Hurricane Beryl. The last customers were restored to service 11 days after the storm.
People dealt with spoiled food and medication, relocation, unplanned expenses and discomfort in the July heat. Recommendations Recommendations seven through nine deal with clearing vegetation, which caused power poles to fail when trees and limbs fell on power lines. Half of CenterPoint's outages in Hurricane Beryl were due to vegetation.
The report found that trees were more vulnerable because of freezing temperatures, drought and heavy rain in recent years. A KHOU 11 Investigates report reviewed expenditures on vegetation removal. For utilities serving the Greater Houston area in 2023, some companies spent double or triple what CenterPoint spent per customer.
Here’s how much each company spent: A fast-moving storm hit Southeast Texas causing 1 million power outages. Winds topped 100 mph in places. The hurricane left 2.
7 million power customers in the dark, with 2.2 million of those being CenterPoint customers. The outages disrupted daily life and were aggravated by inaccurate information or a lack of communication from CenterPoint.
Read the full report here ..
