More than one million Texans are still without power as of Thursday afternoon following Hurricane Beryl’s Monday touchdown in the state, with energy providers rushing to get their customers back in the light.
From a data set of nearly 14 million customers, PowerOutage.us reports that more than 1.2 million Texans do not have electricity — with most being in the Houston area.
Hurricane Beryl, which was a category two event when it crossed the Texas coast near Matagorda early Monday morning, has since been downgraded to a tropical depression after losing most of its strength, the Associated Press reported.
“Texas state and local officials warned it could take several days to restore power,” the news agency noted.
CenterPoint Entergy announced that it had restored power to more than one million customers by Wednesday but still had around one million more to go, FOX 26 Houston reported.
CenterPoint said that around half of its impacted 252,460 customers had been restored as of Wednesday, while Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP) “was still working to restore power to about 57,000 customers on Thursday morning,” according to the outlet.
“TNMP says their crews are making significant progress to restore power, but Beryl caused significant damage to their infrastructure,” FOX 26 stated.
The company warned that this means restoration times could fluctuate.
Houston-area residents have taken to social media to complain about the lack of electricity, with one X user even joking that he would “start playing with wires” himself if CenterPoint did not fix it in a timely manner:
CenterPoint energy got like 17 more minutes before I go out there and start playing with wires.
— beaverbasher68 (@beaverbasher68) July 8, 2024
A Harris County man shared his discovery that the Whataburger fast food chain app can double as a power outage tracker:
The Whataburger app works as a power outage tracker, handy since the electric company doesn't show a map.
Still nearly 1.9 million power outages. pic.twitter.com/d8srWmw1oV— BBQ Bryan (@BBQBryan) July 9, 2024
A photograph that the Houston Chronicle posted shows the real-life lengths disgruntled customers will go to to show their hate for CenterPoint — in the form of graffiti:
Someone in Houston has some strong feelings about CenterPoint Energy.
As of Wednesday morning, 1.3 million customers are still without power after Hurricane Beryl.
📷️: Raquel Natalicchio / Houston Chronicle photographer pic.twitter.com/JSQa3zh0yE
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) July 10, 2024
Houston businessman and philanthropist Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale announced that he was opening his Gallery Furniture store to the public for free phone charging, food, and air conditioning:
Day 3: Free Food, Charging and Cooling Station at GF 6006 N FRWY until 8PM CST. And @Centerpoint_Energy : Enough is enough! pic.twitter.com/qUohKYvMaz
— @MattressMack (@MattressMack) July 10, 2024
“Enough is enough,” McIngvale directed at CenterPoint.
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