Power was expected to be fully restored to nearly all Houston area homes and businesses by late Wednesday after a deadly storm caused widespread destruction and left hundreds of thousands without power. At the height of the outage, around 922,000 customers were without service, but that number had decreased to about 42,000 by Wednesday evening. CenterPoint Energy worked tirelessly to restore power, with the vice president of regulatory policy announcing that around 98% of customers would have their power back by the end of Wednesday.
The storm on May 16 resulted in at least eight fatalities and extensive damage across the city, bringing much of Houston to a standstill. The National Weather Service confirmed that the storm was a derecho, characterized by long-lived windstorms associated with rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Two tornadoes also touched down in different areas around Houston, causing additional destruction. The derecho had hurricane-force winds that caused significant damage, with pockets of winds reaching up to 100 mph in some areas.
Despite the progress in restoring power, about 20,000 customers were anticipated to remain without power until the weekend due to significant damage to equipment in their areas. Crews were working to replace utility poles and repair transformers and fuses in neighborhoods to bring power back to these customers. As the Houston area faced potentially dangerous heat over the weekend, concerns were raised about the resilience of the city’s infrastructure, particularly in the face of upcoming hurricane season. City officials emphasized the need for discussions on fortifying power lines and infrastructure to prevent future outages.
CenterPoint Energy has been making efforts to improve the resilience of its system, but more study and discussions were deemed necessary by city council members. Houston is no stranger to devastating weather events, given its history of hurricanes and flooding. With thousands of customers still without power and hurricane season approaching, the city faces challenges in ensuring the reliability of its electrical infrastructure. The storm served as a reminder of the importance of preparedness and planning for extreme weather events in a flood-prone metro area like Houston.
Officials praised the efforts of CenterPoint Energy in restoring power to the majority of customers affected by the storm, acknowledging the patience of those still waiting for their lights to come back on. The city council discussed the need for further measures to strengthen the city’s infrastructure, especially in anticipation of hurricane season. Despite the challenges faced by the Houston area, residents were encouraged to stay resilient and prepared for any future weather-related incidents. As the city continues to recover from the recent storm, efforts are being made to prevent similar disruptions in the future.
