Power was restored for a large portion of the Houston area after strong storms blew through Wednesday, but 18,000 residents remain without air conditioning as triple-digit temperatures return.
CenterPoint Energy is warning customers it could be Sunday before everyone’s power is back on.
“We saw winds that were comparable to Category 2 hurricane,” CenterPoint’s director of communications Alyssia Oshodi said.
The utility is asking for customers’ patience as repairs focus on getting as many homes back on as possible at a time.
“We are working the larger outages and then moving toward those smaller ones, but very focused on getting everyone on,” Oshodi said. “We know that the extreme heat that we’re dealing with and that’s why we continue to restore as quickly as we can.”
CenterPoint has more than 350 crews working around the clock, finding complicated issues and significant damage.
KPRC 2 has been talking to families dealing with the outages amid scorching heat.
“It puts you in a bad situation, you know, it’s basically a life or limb situation with this heat,” said Jeffery Daniel, whose godmother lost power. “My godmother has a little age on her and she can’t be in this place without electricity. It’s definitely a must down here in Houston this time of year.”
The heavy storms downed some power lines and poles, Oshodi said. Trees also landed on some lines.
Crews have been working in the sweltering heat, as well.
“Much like as we prep for a storm, we prep for warm weather because this is a 24/7 operation,” Oshodi said. “We train our crews to work safely in these conditions. Take breaks, stay hydrated while still continuing to get the work done.”
- RELATED: Track power outages here.
Tetiana Dasov, her son, their husky Balto and puppy Max are all staying in the car with a sun reflector in the windshield while running the air conditioner to keep cool.
“Where we can go with the four cats, two dogs and kids. I mean, it’s not (an) options, yeah, no,” Dasov said. “It’s so bad, staying this hot time with no AC, with no nothing, it’s just terrible.”
Her home’s temperature has reached 90 degrees and they lost two fridges full of food, she said.
In her Spring neighborhood, Coventry, power has been out since Wednesday evening and the roar of generators could be heard.
Dasov’s next-door neighbors loaded up their cat, Pablo, and left for a family members’ to find relief from the heat.
CenterPoint said they deployed temporary emergency electric energy facilities to the northwest portion of the Houston Electric territory as part of their restoration efforts on Saturday.
“There are various factors that help determine where, when and how we can deploy the temporary generation. They include system integrity, infrastructure repair status and safety considerations. CenterPoint Energy uses the temporary generation where we can effectively and safely do so. While these facilities are in operation, customers near these locations might experience equipment noise,” CenterPoint said.
CenterPoint recommends residents visit their nearest cooling center if they do not have air conditioning. Click here for a full list.