HOUSTON – The number of Texas deaths after Hurricane Beryl came ashore and knocked out power to millions of residents climbed to at least 36 on Thursday as officials confirmed more people who died in homes that were left without air conditioning during sweltering heat.
The medical examiner's office in Fort Bend County confirmed nine more deaths, including four that were at least partially attributed to hyperthermia, or when a person's body temperature rises far above normal. At least a dozen other residents in the Houston area also died from complications due to the heat and losing power, according to officials.
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Most Houston residents had their electricity restored last week after days of widespread outages during sweltering summer temperatures. Officials had said some residents and businesses would need to do repairs to damaged equipment they are responsible for before being able to get power.
CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells, the head of the city's power utility, apologized to customers Thursday for the company's response after Beryl and told state regulators the utility was already working to better prepare for the next storm. The Gov. Greg Abbott and lawmakers have demanded answers from the utility over why electricity was out for so long.
“We will do better. While we cannot erase the frustrations and difficulties so many of our customers endured, I and my entire leadership team will not make excuses. We will improve and act with a sense of urgency,” Wells told the Public Utility Commission of Texas during a meeting in Austin.
Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane, made landfall July 8, knocking out electricity to nearly 3 million people in Texas at the height of the outages. Most of those left without power were in the Houston area. Beryl unleashed heavy rain and winds that uprooted trees and damaged homes and businesses along the Texas Coast and parts of Southeast Texas.
At Abbott's direction, the utilities commission has begun investigating CenterPoint’s preparedness and response to Beryl. A final report is expected by Dec. 1.
A special Texas Senate committee formed to review how utility companies responded to Beryl was set to have its first meeting on Monday in Austin.
During Thursday’s Public Utility Commission meeting, Wells said CenterPoint’s efforts to improve will include better partnerships with local communities and officials, assigning more workers to manage vegetation that could damage power lines, and making lines more resilient to extreme winds.
CenterPoint says it will also have a new cloud-based outage tracker after their previous tracker was removed due to technical difficulties following a May 16 storm that had left about 1 million customers without power. After Beryl hit, some residents tried to determine which areas in Houston had power by using the Texas-based fast food chain Whataburger's app and seeing which of its locations were open.
Utilities commissioners told Wells and other company officials that while they appreciated CenterPoint's desire to be held accountable and to begin regaining the trust of the community, the improvements they were putting in place were things the company should have already been doing.
“But at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words," said Commissioner Lori Cobos. "So, we need to get through the hurricane season. And that’s what needs to happen. And these actions need to be taken. And we hope that you do."
The only speaker during the meeting’s public comment section, Houston school district trustee Savant Moore, read the names of the victims from Beryl and asked that the utilities commissioners not forget what Houston and its residents experienced, and criticized CenterPoint’s response.
“I ask what will this board and the governor do to protect Texas lives from such mismanagement?” Moore said.
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Stengle reported from Dallas.
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