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Crews Restore Power After Extreme Weather Wreaks Havoc in Houston

By Rick Laezman | May 24, 2024
Header image: Straight-line wind damage to transmission towers caused by the May 16, 2024 derecho in Houston. Photo by the National Weather Service.

A severe early season storm descended on Houston last week, causing widespread damage and leaving at least eight people dead. The storm left nearly 1 million people without electricity, and the local utility, CenterPoint Energy, immediately mobilized to restore power.

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A severe early season storm descended on Houston last week, causing widespread damage and leaving at least eight people dead.

The storm left nearly 1 million people without electricity, and the local utility, CenterPoint Energy, immediately mobilized to restore power.

The May 16 storm, described as a derecho for its sustained thunderstorms, hurricane-force winds and even a tornado, crashed through Houston last Thursday, tearing up buildings and uprooting trees. It caused extensive damage to CenterPoint’s transmission and distribution systems as well as customer electrical equipment. The company estimates that damage from the severe weather resulted in electric service interruptions peaking at nearly 922,000 customers.

Crews immediately began work to restore power to affected customers. According to CenterPoint, more than 2,000 employees and contractors have been deployed, along with approximately 4,000 lineworkers and 1,000 vegetation management professionals.

The utility also requested mutual assistance to receive additional resources to assist with restoration efforts. The company is part of electric utility mutual assistance programs that provide access to thousands of line workers and vegetation crews from around the country to lend a hand during widespread power outage emergencies.

CenterPoint notes that crews encountered multiple challenges. They found equipment buried under multiple downed trees, large limbs, heavy debris and fences, as well as entire large trees down on roads, properties and wires. In addition, the recent heavy rainfall across the area caused issues with soil and tree stability, further complicating restoration efforts.

The efforts paid off. By Monday, May 20, power had been restored to more than 700,000 customers. As of Wednesday, May 22, the number had risen to more than 890,000, or 97% of the total number of customers who had lost power.

CenterPoint expects some isolated outages to extend into the weekend.

While the utility raced to restore power, mother nature continued to make things miserable in the aftermath of the storm. All week, Houston has been experiencing summer-like conditions, with sweltering heat above 90°F and spikes above 100°F. The high temperatures are expected to continue into the weekend.

The high temperatures have made conditions especially unbearable for customers without power, as cooling systems cannot be enlisted to battle the heat until power is restored.

Header image: Straight-line wind damage to transmission towers caused by the May 16, 2024 derecho in Houston. Photo by the National Weather Service.

About The Author

LAEZMAN is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer who has been covering renewable power for more than 10 years. He may be reached at [email protected]

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