‘FINALLY RESTORED!’ Elderly man, daughter give thanks to KPRC 2 after power was turned back on following our story

‘I don’t want to plan a funeral’

HOUSTON – Those were the words one concerned daughter shared with KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke after her 86-year-old father had to endure at least a week without power following Hurricane Beryl.

SEE ALSO: ‘I don’t want to plan a funeral:’ Elderly residents in Almeda Plaza have growing fears amid ongoing power outage

In our initial reporting, her father, Julius Gordon, spoke about his time being without power and said, ‘survival, survival’ is what he had to focus on during the recent disaster.

He added that about 77 homes in the Almeda Plaza area, which has a large elderly population, didn’t have power when Deven arrived on July 16. Many of the residents were without generators and some were in fear for their lives -- not just because of the heat.

“You see those commercials, ‘I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.’ That would be me,” said 86-year-old Gordon.

Gordon also questioned why he and his daughter saw multiple energy crews show up in the neighborhood but left with residents still offline.

SEE ALSO: Why were Houston residents with generators during Hurricane Beryl still experiencing power outages?

“He could still smother and die in here. I don’t want to plan a funeral for my father because of a hurricane, you know? If he’s made it this long, this should not be it,” said Gordon’s daughter, Denise Furlough.

The two of them are now singing a new tune after the power was ‘FINALLY restored’ following our story.

His daughter sent KPRC 2 a video letting us know that the power inside her father’s home had been turned back on. The bad news... his neighbors across the street were still in the dark.

And while Gordon said he was excited to have his lights back on, he’s not letting go of some of his best practices like keeping his handheld flashlight close by.

SEE ALSO: Did CenterPoint do enough to clear trees in Houston before Hurricane Beryl?

“I’m glad to have power but I won’t divorce my flashlight just yet,” he said.

Denise said that the trucks came out Thursday morning, and crews have been working since this morning.

“Thank you KPRC 2!” the daughter said. “Thank you!” her father added.

As of Thursday around 12 p.m., the CenterPoint Energy outage tracker reported more than 20,000 customers still without power, 10 days following Beryl’s landfall.