People searched for places to cool off, fuel up and grab: 2 million still without power
Pressure mounted Wednesday on Houston’s power utility as millions of residents still had no power nearly three days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall, amid questions over how a city that is all too familiar with destructive weather was unable to better withstand a Category 1 storm.
With frustration growing as people searched for places to cool off, fuel up and grab a bite to eat, a CenterPoint Energy executive faced a barrage from city leaders who wanted to know it was taking so long to get the lights back on again.
CenterPoint “needs to a do a better job” restoring power, Mayor John Whitmire said. “That’s the consensus of Houstonians. That’s mine.”
Beryl came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest type, but has has been blamed for at least seven U.S. deaths — one in Louisiana and six in Texas. Earlier, 11 died in the Caribbean.
Over a million Texas homes and businesses are without power days after Beryl made landfall in the Lone Star State.
Beryl passed through Texas on Monday and as of 5:50 a.m. CT Wednesday, 1.7 million Texas homes and businesses remain without power, according to poweroutage.us.
Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday morning. It then traveled across the eastern part of the state before dissipating to a tropical storm and continuing its path towards Arkansas.
The number of people without power is lower than on Monday when 2.7 million people were reported to be without power.
