CenterPoint Energy is working hard to restore power to most of its customers by early next week, but those in the hardest-hit areas may have to wait a bit longer. This follows Thursday’s severe thunderstorms that brought hurricane-force winds to southeast Texas.
By Friday evening, about 520,474 customers in Harris County were still without power, a drop from over 550,000 earlier in the day. The storms, with winds over 85 mph, caused significant damage to CenterPoint Energy’s systems in areas like Bellaire, Cypress, Baytown, Greenspoint, Humble, and Spring Branch.
CenterPoint Energy announced that over 78% of its customers, or 2.2 million people, have already had their power restored. They have also set up mobile generation resources to provide temporary power in some areas.
At the peak of the outage, 920,000 customers were without power, but crews managed to restore electricity to over 340,000 within 24 hours. Initially, officials thought it might take weeks to fully restore power, but they now believe it will only take a few more days.
To speed up the process, CenterPoint has brought in around 4,000 line workers and 1,000 vegetation professionals. However, some of the hardest-hit areas, especially along the Highway 290 Corridor from Jersey Village to Waller, might remain without power through the weekend and into early next week.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire compared the storm’s impact to Hurricane Ike in 2008, highlighting the widespread outages affecting various parts of Houston, including downtown, Spring Branch, Channelview, Baytown, Cypress, and Katy.
Residents are urged to check their weatherheads—the point where power enters their homes. If there’s damage, they need to contact a qualified electrician before CenterPoint can restore their power.
You can track the status of outages and get updates using CenterPoint Energy’s outage tracker. The utility also stresses the importance of avoiding downed power lines and damaged equipment, treating them as energized, and reporting them to 713-207-2222.
Other utilities have also been affected. Entergy, which serves areas north and east of Houston, reported 6,200 customers without power by Friday evening, down from 44,500 at the peak on Thursday night.
Connectivity has also been impacted by the outages. Comcast has opened all operational Xfinity WiFi hotspots in the Houston area for free. AT&T and Verizon customers experiencing service interruptions can contact their providers for assistance.
For more updates and safety tips, continue to follow local news and CenterPoint Energy’s communications.