ReportWire

Tag: Beryl

  • Q&A: How to balance your finances while waiting for your FEMA check to roll in

    Q&A: How to balance your finances while waiting for your FEMA check to roll in

    Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Beryl pummeled through Texas, many residents are now left in financial limbo as they wait for their FEMA checks to come in.

    We sat down with Derrick Kinney, a financial expert with GetTheRaiseYouWant.com, and he shared how you can stay up to date with your bills while you wait for emergency funds.

    Q: I covered my storm-related costs with a credit card. Without that FEMA check, I can’t pay the bill. What do I do?

    A: Call the credit card company and let them know you were involved in a hurricane. Ask the company what support or help [they can] provide. This can come in the form of waived interest rates or even waived fees. The goal right now is to look at every possible aspect to basically buy yourself time, at least for the next couple of weeks.

    Q: Do credit card companies have any hardship allowances?

    A: It depends on the credit card. Most are willing to work with you, as long as you’re caught up on your payments already. If you’re behind, that’s a different story, but they may give you a cash advance, or they may give you a reduced interest rate. Other things to keep in mind: You could borrow against your 401k, or possibly a life insurance policy. But keep in mind, while these are not the best options right away, when you’re in a pinch, you want to find every possible option to make sure you cover your bills in the short term.

    Q: I have a low credit score; will that affect how much money I get from credit card companies?

    A: It could. The key is, it’s typically not based on what you borrow, it’s your inability to pay the money back. So, if you’re already at a low credit score, the likelihood of your credit card company letting you borrow money is pretty low. If you have a good credit score, this could be a good opportunity. Low score or not, it’s important to look at every possible way to make sure you make the rent. The goal is not to get ahead, but to stay current on your bills.

    Q: How else can I bridge the money gap until I get my FEMA check?

    A: The most important thing right now is to evaluate what your essential expenses are and what are your desired expenses. For example, rather than eating out at restaurants, try making food at home to help cut some costs. Don’t make a financial dilemma on top of a hurricane dilemma.

    Q: How do I protect my credit score if I’m late on payments?

    A: Call the credit card company immediately. You want to be proactive and let them know, “Look, I have been part of this hurricane situation. It has dramatically impacted my finances. I’m going to be using my credit card more often. I want to give you a heads up on that. And also, is it possible to waive any fees, reduce the interest rate?”

    You want to give them a heads up, so that way they know if there were to be a late payment, it doesn’t penalize you because they want to get paid. In most cases these days, many credit cards companies not all of them, are willing to work with you once they hear from you.

    Q: Should I keep a log of when I contact my credit card company?

    A: Keep records, because if it’s not written down, it’s as though it never, ever happened. Whether it’s on the Notes app on your phone or a journal, you want to make sure you get the person’s name, their phone extension, the time, the date you talked to them. Typically, the credit card company keeps records as well, but this is you owning your own situation. No one’s going to give you a loan for this. You want to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to protect you and your money, and that begins with writing down every single detail.

    Q: If I can’t pay all my bills, how do I prioritize?

    A: Here’s what you can do: Make a list on a sheet of paper or in the Notes app on your phone of all of the bills you have, the amount, and when they’re due. Add a separate column of what will impact your credit score the most. You could call your landlord possibly and ask for an extra week. If it’s a credit card or annual bill, those things get reported to the credit score companies, and those would be what I would place as a higher priority. All of them are important, but right now you want to make sure that you’re making very deliberate steps to protect you and your money. And that begins with calling each person. If they hear from you personally, they’re more likely to want to work with you.

    Q: Where can I get immediate financial assistance?

    A: It’s going to vary based on each individual community and where you live. But in most cases, most people will not give you a loan for a hurricane unless you already have a good credit score. Again, everybody wants to get paid back. In the case of an emergency, borrowing money from family, from friends could be a backup solution if they know you are going to pay them back.

    At the end of the day, it’s important to stay calm and continue to act like you are the CEO of your money. How would a CEO in a crisis handle their money? And that’s how you want to think, even on the lowest level of what can you do to make the next best financial decision today, so you work yourself out of what could be a really bad situation.

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

    Kait Catuiza

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  • ‘Talk is cheap’: Outage victims react to CenterPoint’s apologies and promises to do better

    ‘Talk is cheap’: Outage victims react to CenterPoint’s apologies and promises to do better

    HOUSTON – People in the Almeda Plaza neighborhood say they don’t want to hear apologies and promises from CenterPoint Energy. They say actions speak louder than words.

    Since 86-year-old Julius Gordon Jr. got his power back on the day after our original story with him aired following hurricane beryl, its already gone out twice again. Once three days after it was restored, and then again today.

    “I thought, is this retaliation?” Gordon asked jokingly. “let’s cut off Gordon’s electricity because he’s got a big mouth. Hey, but we have to cut off the other people too. That’s alright cut theirs off too, cut all 700 of them off.”

    He makes fun of the situation to keep spirits high, but he knows it’s really no laughing matter.

    “Seriously, it’s not a joke anymore,” he said.

    He’s already had to throw away medicine that requires constant refrigeration and sometimes when there’s an outage, he has to take a device to the hospital to reconfigure it with the implanted heart monitor it correlates with.

    “They can do better. They got to do better,” Gordon said.

    Doing better is what CenterPoint executives promised during a recent hearing in front of the Public Utility Commission where one of the promises was to ensure vegetation surrounding power lines is better maintained.

    “We’ve begun to use aerial resources whether they are helicopter, drone,” CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said.

    CenterPoint officials also said other changes are on the way, including bettering customer service.

    “Looking at ways for customers to report and send photos and damage so that we can prioritize lines down and other safety related items that come up,” Wells said.

    Both Gordon and his daughter, Denise Furlough listened to CenterPoint’s apologies and commitments to build the most resilient costal grid anywhere in the country. Both of them are skeptical.

    “I will believe it when I see it. This is Houston. We have had hurricanes my whole life and I won’t even mention my age. They knew this last year, the year before,” Furlough said.

    “Talk is cheap, and when you don’t follow up on your talk, it’s expensive to the customers,” Gordon said.

    Gordon says he still won’t walk around his house without his flashlight even though his lights are back on now. Meanwhile, CenterPoint saying they plan to streamline the changes starting this hurricane season and continue to improve on preparations for future seasons.

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

    Deven Clarke

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  • A Disaster Preparedness Guide for CenterPoint

    A Disaster Preparedness Guide for CenterPoint

    Every year around the first week of June when hurricane season officially opens, we are all reminded repeatedly to begin our hurricane preparations. The laundry list of purchases and things we must do, particularly homeowners, is ubiquitous in local media. And, frankly, many of us go through the annual tradition with a kind of bland recognition of our responsibilities, like that guy in the old Dunkin’ Donuts commercial.

    But this week has many of us wondering, why, if we are required to be so damn prepared, was the company that manages all the city’s power not? We know this was a mess, a direct hit from a hurricane (something we haven’t seen in quite a while), but that’s why they call it preparedness. You do it before there is a problem. Maybe CenterPoint needs a primer or how to be ready for a storm, a checklist of sorts, like the ones everyone gives us regular folks once a year.

    So, instead of everyone telling us to buy water, fill up on gas and keep our trees trimmed, here’s a list that will maybe help keep you guys from screwing this up so badly next time.

    Charge up your technology.

    One of the keys to surviving after a hurricane or other natural disaster is to have access to your electronic devices. You can make emergency calls, check the status of storms and communicate with service providers like power companies, for example. For you, CenterPoint, this means actually having technology that functions well ahead of time. Your service outage tracker, which crapped out after the derecho, looks more like something a third grader did with a finger painting app than what a multi-billion-dollar company rolls out as a way for its customers to find out when they might be able to watch Netflix again. Figure it out.

    Trim your trees.

    This is one of the more galling requests every year. Homeowners are told to trim their trees to keep them healthy during the rain and wind of typical Gulf Coast summer weather. There are even suggestions that we need to keep limbs from power lines to prevent serious problems. But given that the power lines are YOUR responsibility, shouldn’t you handle most of that heavy lifting? Clearly, the city’s lush vegetation is one of biggest problems when storms come a’callin’. Many tree services won’t go near limbs around power lines because (why is that again?) you explicitly tell people not to go near them. Oh, and by the way, it’s really freaking expensive. Time to start doing your lawn maintenance in the spring like the rest of us.

    Have a plan.

    We are informed it is important to have an evacuation plan if we live in an area prone to flooding or surge. Make sure we have days worth of medicine, plenty of gas for our cars, a place to stay. Well, your turn. Instead of calling on the help of thousands of crews from around the state (and neighboring states) WHEN something happens, how about getting those plans in place BEFORE it does? We had crews of linemen, the real heroes, staged but unable to do anything because of contract issues, others sitting around waiting for instructions. What kind of shoddy emergency plan is that? Be better, man.

    click to enlarge

    Trees on power lines is an all-too-familiar sight.

    Photo by Darrin Clifton

    Communicate with your neighbors.

    Houston residents are resilient because of our neighbors, the one’s that live literally next door and the one’s who live in the region. Disaster planners suggest we stay in good contact with our family, friends and neighbors as disasters unfold so we can help take care of one another. Like so many companies, you claim to be a part of the Houston family, but when we needed you most, you pretended you’d never met us before and looked like Ted Cruz caught at the airport on his way to Cancun.

    Hours, days even, without updates or critical communication about what was going on is unacceptable when your neighbors are suffering. Even if you cannot get the power on as quickly as we all would like, the silence is absolutely deafening and completely unforgivable.

    Realize where you live.

    Every year we are told we have to just brace for impact when it comes to hurricane season because we chose to live along the Gulf Coast (no word on what we are supposed to do about freezing in the winter, however). Well, guess what, CenterPoint, you live here too. You’ve taken the great responsibility of being one of just a handful of energy services and systems providers in the region, yet you behave like you are built for some tranquil paradise, not the eye of a damn hurricane.

    Yes, it is expensive to consider mitigating factors to make keeping lights on more realistic like burying power lines and keeping foliage at bay. Ask us about our roofs and our flood insurance and our homeowners insurance and our backup generators and our battery-powered lamps and fans. We know all about preparedness. We shouldn’t have to school our energy provider on such basics of life in Houston.

    Have a disaster relief fund for yourself.

    Maybe the most humiliating kick in the crotch (to borrow a phrase from The Police) is the fact that after all of this is over and we have our power back, we, the people most harmed by all this will be the ones footing the bill. Your CEO admitted as much. Same thing during the freeze. What kind of BS is that? We have to set aside an emergency fund (if we are able) to protect against these kinds of surprise problems.

    Maybe, instead of increasing your executive pay and investing in stock buybacks, you might want to set aside a rainy-day fund for moments just like this. You would be hailed as heroes instead of cursed as villains. You are our only source of our power infrastructure. We pay you a LOT to keep it up and running. Should we be forced to pay for your failings simply because you don’t know how to manage your investments? Get a bigger piggy bank.

    Jeff Balke

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  • ‘I will be issuing an executive order’: Gov. Abbott examines CenterPoint’s future in Texas after Beryl response

    ‘I will be issuing an executive order’: Gov. Abbott examines CenterPoint’s future in Texas after Beryl response

    HOUSTON – Texas Governor Greg Abbott toured NRG Arena Monday to examine the 250 beds set up there for Houstonians who’ve been discharged from area hospitals but don’t have a safe place to go after Hurricane Beryl.

    The state set up the operation at NRG Arena to help with healthcare access and provide ready-made meals, water, ice, and shelter to those who lost power.

    With Houston Mayor John Whitmire by his side, Abbott said Texas will continue to focus on assisting residents directly impacted by the storm and those who are still without power.

    Abbott doubled down on his stance on demanding answers from CenterPoint Energy, stating that they have a deadline to give them information on their response or Abbott suggests issuing an executive order.

    “If CenterPoint does not respond to my request, I will be issuing an executive order imposing, what I think, are the appropriate standards,” Abbott said. “The standards I want to impose on CenterPoint would be far more costly than what they may be coming up with. Separate from that, if they don’t comply with my request and refuse to work with them, we’re going to completely re-evaluate the current status of CenterPoint in our area.”

    Abbott did not pull any punches Sunday afternoon in going after CenterPoint for their failures in getting the lights back on for Houstonians as well as hundreds of thousands of others in the area.

    “The failure of power companies to provide power to their customers is completely unacceptable,” Abbott said.

    Abbott, who is back in the state after an economic trade mission to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan last week, joined Lt. Governor Dan Patrick at a news conference Sunday afternoon at Gallery Furniture. The governor made it clear that hurricane season is far from over and CenterPoint will be required to immediately start addressing multiple key issues to avoid what has happened post-Beryl from happening again this hurricane season.

    “I will give CenterPoint until July 31st to provide my office with specific actions that they will take, to address the following issues that focus on improving power reliability. #1 removal of any vegetation that threatens any power line covered in the geographic region covered by CenterPoint,” Abbott said. “CenterPoint must specify actions that it will take in the coming months that it did not take in Beryl that will reduce or eliminate power outages in the event of another tropical storm arriving at the gulf coast.”

    Abbott described some of the other actions the state will require from CenterPoint.

    “Regardless of the reason, CenterPoint did not have an adequate number of workers pre-staged to immediately address the power outage. So, my demand upon CenterPoint they must specify what actions they will take to pre-stage a sufficient number of workers immediately to any power outages,” he said. “We must know was CenterPoint protecting Texans or was it protecting its own pocketbook.”

    Governor Abbott also has other action steps from CenterPoint that must be made between now and the 31st. He made it clear that if they don’t, the state will reevaluate CenterPoint’s presence in Texas.

    Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says hearings will be taking place next month in Austin to further investigate as to why Houstonians were left in the dark for so long.

    “A freight train is coming,” said Patrick adding “you better be prepared.”

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

    Mario Díaz, Brittany Taylor, Rilwan Balogun

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  • ‘Completely unacceptable:’ Gov. Abbott sets timetable for immediate action from CenterPoint after post-Beryl failures

    ‘Completely unacceptable:’ Gov. Abbott sets timetable for immediate action from CenterPoint after post-Beryl failures

    HOUSTON – Texas Governor Greg Abbott did not pull any punches Sunday afternoon in going after CenterPoint for their failures in getting the lights back on for Houstonians as well as hundreds of thousands of others in the area.

    “The failure of power companies to provide power to their customers is completely unacceptable,” Abbott said.

    Abbott, who is back in the state after an economic trade mission to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan last week, joined Lt. Governor Dan Patrick at a news conference Sunday afternoon at Gallery Furniture. The governor made it clear that hurricane season is far from over and CenterPoint will be required to immediately start addressing multiple key issues to avoid what has happened post-Beryl from happening again this hurricane season.

    “I will give CenterPoint until July 31st to provide my office with specific actions that they will take, to address the following issues that focus on improving power reliability. #1 removal of any vegetation that threatens any power line covered in the geographic region covered by CenterPoint,” Abbott said. “CenterPoint must specify actions that it will take in the coming months that it did not take in Beryl that will reduce or eliminate power outages in the event of another tropical storm arriving at the gulf coast.”

    Abbott described some of the other actions the state will require from CenterPoint.

    “Regardless of the reason, CenterPoint did not have an adequate number of workers pre-staged to immediately address the power outage. So my demand upon CenterPoint  they must specify what actions they will take to pre-stage a sufficient number of workers immediately to any power outages,” he said. “We must know was CenterPoint protecting Texans or was it protecting its own pocketbook.”

    Governor Abbott also has other action steps from CenterPoint that must be made between now and the 31st. He made it clear that if they don’t, the state will reevaluate CenterPoint’s presence in Texas.

    Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says hearings will be taking place next month in Austin to further investigate as to why Houstonians were left in the dark for so long.

    “A freight train is coming,” said Patrick adding “you better be prepared.”

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

    Mario Díaz

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  • 93-year-old woman’s death amid sweltering heat at independent living facility has son calling for changes to protocol

    93-year-old woman’s death amid sweltering heat at independent living facility has son calling for changes to protocol

    KINGWOOD, Texas – A local man is calling for changes to protocols at an independent living facility in Kingwood. It’s where he says his mother died early this morning during extremely hot conditions.

    The power at The Terraces was knocked out during Hurricane Beryl and hasn’t been restored.

    Jonathan Sturgis loved and adored his 93-year-old mother, Barbara Sturgis.

    “Wonderful lady. Best mom you could have, a lot of people say that. She’s been through a lot,” he said.

    Most recently, Jonathan says his mom was subjected to sweltering heat living at The Terraces.

    She died this morning as other residents were being voluntarily evacuated. Jonathan says he has concerns about how the facility’s management company, Frontier Management, handled the situation.

    “No communication before the storm hit, no communication during the storm, and we got one email on Wednesday, two days after the storm hit,” he added.

    He says this is a copy of the email that partly reads: “Our generator continues to run select lighting and power in both dining rooms and the kitchen. We have air conditioners and fans in place.”

    “Went up there and had lunch with her [his mom] on Tuesday, and when I entered the facility, it seemed like it was pretty reasonable considering they were on a backup generator. Temperatures were a little bit elevated but under control,” Sturgis said.

    But he says that wasn’t the case by Thursday.

    “By Thursday morning my mom passed away, I got up there 9 a.m. in the morning, and I immediately noticed right away the building was significantly hotter,” he said.

    When KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke asked if he felt residents should’ve been evacuated sooner, Jonathan’s response: “Yes. Absolutely no doubt. No doubt at all.”

    92-year-old Bob Burgess also lives at The Terraces.

    “It was hot no question, that’s why they had to evacuate because it was having an effect on elderly people,” Burgess said.

    Burgess says his main frustration lies with CenterPoint which says it prioritizes power restoration for “facilities vital to safety health and welfare,” but so far, Burgess says CenterPoint hasn’t shown up there.

    “The situation seems to be, have been poorly handled by somebody. It took a long time for not much to happen,” Burgess said.

    We reached out to Frontier Management with questions about possibly making changes to their communication and evacuation protocols. Someone from corporate said they would pass our message along but so far; we have not heard back.

    We also reached out to CenterPoint and while we haven’t heard back, according to CenterPoint’s restoration tracker, the facility is in blue which means an assessment has been completed. Still no word on exactly when power will be restored.

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

    Deven Clarke

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  • A Question of Power at Mayor Whitmire’s Day After Press Conference

    A Question of Power at Mayor Whitmire’s Day After Press Conference


    On Tuesday, Mayor John Whitmire took a helicopter ride to survey the damage in the city and then called a press conference to talk about the biggest danger ahead, which most people would agree is the lack of power.

    Not only are local hospitals getting backed up with patients they don’t want to release to homes without power, but residents are increasingly testy about the lack of air conditioning while temperatures soar. It doesn’t help any that for some reason cell phones and access to the internet are out across the area. So how people are supposed to get the messages being handed out is anyone’s guess.

    Houston ISD announced it would also be closed on Wednesday, another indicator of the seriousness of the damage that hit the area. Superintendent Mike Miles is well known for his belief that children do best by being in school even following severe weather events.

    And then there’s the scarcity of traffic lights and the propensity for some predators to come out at night.

    “We did not anticipate the amount of power we would lose. And quite frankly the city is very dark right now,” Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite said, adding at another point: “We did not anticipate is the magnitude of the power outage our No. 1 problem was power outages it creates dangerous situations.

    He and the other officials echoed each other that people need to stay off the streets especially at night.

    As evidenced by media questions following the parade of speakers including Acting Governor Dan Patrick, the natives are restless. Many of those questions were lobbed at Brad Tutenjian, CenterPoint Energy’s vice president of Electric Distribution Operations and Power Delivery who repeatedly said how hard they were working.

    As it turns out, the thousands of linemen brought in from other states to help out with Beryl didn’t start work right away because they had to be trained. Even the local CenterPoint crews couldn’t start until after Beryl left the immediate area, sometime around 3 p.m. Monday. Understandable but not great to hear for what was initially projected to be a two-day period at most without power.

    Tutenjiam alternated between saying CenterPoint was completely prepared for Beryl and arguing that it caught them by surprise both in its location and strength. To date, he said, about 650,000 customers have seen their power restored with the goal of having a total of 1 million back in service by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

    Of course that still leaves another 1.6 million in the area who will remain without power. In texts and robo calls Tuesday, CenterPoint spread the word that it would be concentrating on fire and police facilities as well as hospitals most immediately  and everyone else could expect to wait several more days without power.

    “We’re going to push CenterPoint to do everything possible,” Whitmire proclaimed.

    As for the city’s preparations, which have been much touted for its beefed up training in water rescue for police and fire and additional rescue equipment, apparently it wasn’t discovered until the middle of Beryl that nine fire stations didn’t have backup generators and are/were (?) out of commission until regular power was restored.

    Whitmire blamed the lack of backups on the city’s prior administration (Mayor Sylvester Turner) and vowed that would be corrected. “That’s what we inherited and that’s what we’re here to fix.”

    The city has continued to open up additional cooling centers to meet the increasing demand. In addition, the backed up hospital problem will be solved Patrick said by opening up  NRG Stadium “that will eventually have 250 beds  — this bit of good news apparently ignoring the report from NRG Tuesday that its roof was damaged during Beryl.

    Patrick reported that he’d talked with President Biden Tuesday, asked for and was granted an Emergency Disaster Declaration which would provide reimbursement for to 75 percent of the debris cleanup costs. He insisted that there was “no delay from the White House, no delay from us: in getting this declaration, despite a report in the Houston Chronicle that Biden said he couldn’t get hold of either Abbott (who is out of the country on aa trade tour through Asia) or Patrick.

    And while Whitmire has gone out of his way to extoll all of what he calls unprecedented cooperation at all levels it still paints an awkward picture that County Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Tom Ramsey attend the mayoral press conferences while County Judge Lina Hidalgo is absent

    Meanwhile piles of debris were everywhere, whether picked up by conscientious homeowners and work crews or just left on the side of the roads and littered across properties.

    click to enlarge

    And the rush was on for generators at a local Lowe’s.

    Photo by Gary Beaver

    Apparently many people are less and less inclined to rely upon CenterPoint coming to their rescue.

    Lines for generators were long and longer at Lowe’s, Home Depot and the like to purchase portable units, in many cases waiting in lines for one or two hours to buy them. Restoration of traffic lights was sporadic and their absence didn’t bring out the best among Houston drivers still anxious to get somewhere else. Some residents took long country drives to find cell service which had significant problems in the area.

    Communications suffered as well, If you don’t have power for your TV and your cell phone and internet aren’t working, how do you find out what’s going on?

    The private media company AccuWeather Tuesday announced a preliminary estimate of the damage and the economic loss from Beryl across the United States and set it at $28-$32 Billion (yes with a B).

    Margaret Downing

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  • Some power restored in Houston after Hurricane Beryl, while storm spawns tornadoes as it moves east

    Some power restored in Houston after Hurricane Beryl, while storm spawns tornadoes as it moves east

    Power started to come back for some of the millions of homes and businesses left in the dark when Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Houston area, while the weakened storm moved east, spawning suspected tornadoes and causing more damage.Beryl was blamed for killing several people in Texas on Monday and at least one person in Louisiana, officials said.After a peak Monday of more than 2.7 million customers around Houston without power, the numbers improved to more than 2.4 million homes and businesses lacking electricity by Monday night, according to PowerOutage.us. The lack of cooling to people’s homes, downed power lines and non-functioning traffic lights led officials to ask residents to stay home if possible.“Houstonians need to know we’re working around the clock so you will be safe,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Monday at a media briefing, urging residents to also know the dangers of high water, to stay hydrated and to check on their neighbors.Beryl later Monday weakened into a tropical depression with maximum wind speeds of about 35 mph. The storm still packed a punch, and the National Weather Service confirmed on social media Monday evening that tornadoes had been spotted in northeastern Louisiana. Bossier Sheriff Julian Whittington said in a Facebook post that a woman was killed in the Benton area when a tree fell on her home.Dozens of tornado warnings were issued in Louisiana and Arkansas on Monday evening and they continued into the night.While weakened, Beryl threatened to unleash harsh weather over several more states in coming days.Texas state and local officials warned it could take several days to fully restore power after Beryl came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane and toppled 10 transmission lines and knocked down trees that took down power lines.Beryl on Tuesday was far less powerful than the Category 5 behemoth that tore a deadly path of destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean last weekend. But its winds and rains were still powerful enough to knock down hundreds of trees that had already been teetering in water-saturated earth, and strand dozens of cars on flooded roadways.“We’re not past any difficult conditions,” said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the country.Patrick said CenterPoint Energy was bringing thousands of additional workers to restore power, with top priorities including nursing homes and assisted living centers.At least two people were killed when trees fell on homes in Texas, and a third person, a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department, was killed when he was trapped in flood waters under a highway overpass, Whitmire said.The loss of power was an all-too familiar experience for Houston: Powerful storms had just ripped through the area in May, killing eight people, leaving nearly 1 million without power and flooding numerous streets.Residents without power after Beryl were doing their best.“We haven’t really slept,” said Eva Costancio as she gazed at a large tree that had fallen across electric lines in her neighborhood in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg. Costancio said she had already been without power for several hours and worried that food in her refrigerator would be spoiled.“We are struggling to have food and losing that food would be difficult,” she said.Power crews were working to restore service as quickly as possible, an urgent priority for homes also left without air conditioning in the middle of summer. Temperatures in the 90s were expected Tuesday. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory that said the area heat index could reach 105 F.The state was opening cooling centers as well as food and water distribution centers, said Nim Kidd, chief of state emergency operations.Beryl’s rains pounded Houston and other areas of the coast on Monday, reclosing streets in neighborhoods that had already been washed out by previous storms. Television stations on Monday broadcast the dramatic rescue of a man who had climbed to the roof of his pickup truck after it got trapped in fast-flowing waters. Emergency crews used an extension ladder from a fire truck to drop him a life preserver and a tether before moving him to dry land.Houston officials reported at least 25 water rescues by Monday afternoon, mostly for people with vehicles stuck in floodwaters.Many streets and neighborhoods throughout Houston were littered with fallen branches and other debris. The buzz of chainsaws filled the air Monday afternoon as residents chopped up knocked-down trees and branches that had blocked streets and sidewalks.Patrick warned that flooding could last for days as rain continued to fall on already saturated ground.“This is not a one-day event,” he said.President Joe Biden was getting regular updates on the storm after it made landfall and called the Houston mayor on Monday, the White House said. He told the mayor his administration will make sure Texans have the resources they need to get through the storm and recovery.Several companies with refineries or industrial plants in the area reported that the power disruptions necessitated the flaring of gases at the facilities.Marathon Petroleum Corp. said it conducted a “safe combustion of excess gases” at its Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, but did not provide information on the amount of gas flared or how long it would continue. Formosa Plastics Corporation and Freeport LNG also reported flaring related to Beryl, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.Companies have 24 hours to share emissions data after the flaring stops, a representative from the TCEQ said in an email.The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. In Jamaica, officials said Monday that island residents will have to contend with food shortages after Beryl destroyed over $6.4 million in crops and supporting infrastructure.Beryl was forecast to bring more strong rain and winds into additional states over the coming days. One of those, Missouri was already dealing with a wet summer. Heavy rains unrelated to the storm prompted several water rescues around the city of Columbia, where rivers and creeks were already high ahead of Beryl’s expected arrival on Tuesday.___Associated Press reporters Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Corey Williams in Detroit; Julie Walker in New York; Melina Walling in Chicago; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.

    HOUSTON —

    Power started to come back for some of the millions of homes and businesses left in the dark when Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Houston area, while the weakened storm moved east, spawning suspected tornadoes and causing more damage.

    Beryl was blamed for killing several people in Texas on Monday and at least one person in Louisiana, officials said.

    After a peak Monday of more than 2.7 million customers around Houston without power, the numbers improved to more than 2.4 million homes and businesses lacking electricity by Monday night, according to PowerOutage.us. The lack of cooling to people’s homes, downed power lines and non-functioning traffic lights led officials to ask residents to stay home if possible.

    “Houstonians need to know we’re working around the clock so you will be safe,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Monday at a media briefing, urging residents to also know the dangers of high water, to stay hydrated and to check on their neighbors.

    Beryl later Monday weakened into a tropical depression with maximum wind speeds of about 35 mph. The storm still packed a punch, and the National Weather Service confirmed on social media Monday evening that tornadoes had been spotted in northeastern Louisiana. Bossier Sheriff Julian Whittington said in a Facebook post that a woman was killed in the Benton area when a tree fell on her home.

    Dozens of tornado warnings were issued in Louisiana and Arkansas on Monday evening and they continued into the night.

    While weakened, Beryl threatened to unleash harsh weather over several more states in coming days.

    Texas state and local officials warned it could take several days to fully restore power after Beryl came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane and toppled 10 transmission lines and knocked down trees that took down power lines.

    Beryl on Tuesday was far less powerful than the Category 5 behemoth that tore a deadly path of destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean last weekend. But its winds and rains were still powerful enough to knock down hundreds of trees that had already been teetering in water-saturated earth, and strand dozens of cars on flooded roadways.

    “We’re not past any difficult conditions,” said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the country.

    Patrick said CenterPoint Energy was bringing thousands of additional workers to restore power, with top priorities including nursing homes and assisted living centers.

    At least two people were killed when trees fell on homes in Texas, and a third person, a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department, was killed when he was trapped in flood waters under a highway overpass, Whitmire said.

    The loss of power was an all-too familiar experience for Houston: Powerful storms had just ripped through the area in May, killing eight people, leaving nearly 1 million without power and flooding numerous streets.

    Residents without power after Beryl were doing their best.

    “We haven’t really slept,” said Eva Costancio as she gazed at a large tree that had fallen across electric lines in her neighborhood in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg. Costancio said she had already been without power for several hours and worried that food in her refrigerator would be spoiled.

    “We are struggling to have food and losing that food would be difficult,” she said.

    Power crews were working to restore service as quickly as possible, an urgent priority for homes also left without air conditioning in the middle of summer. Temperatures in the 90s were expected Tuesday. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory that said the area heat index could reach 105 F.

    The state was opening cooling centers as well as food and water distribution centers, said Nim Kidd, chief of state emergency operations.

    Beryl’s rains pounded Houston and other areas of the coast on Monday, reclosing streets in neighborhoods that had already been washed out by previous storms. Television stations on Monday broadcast the dramatic rescue of a man who had climbed to the roof of his pickup truck after it got trapped in fast-flowing waters. Emergency crews used an extension ladder from a fire truck to drop him a life preserver and a tether before moving him to dry land.

    Houston officials reported at least 25 water rescues by Monday afternoon, mostly for people with vehicles stuck in floodwaters.

    Many streets and neighborhoods throughout Houston were littered with fallen branches and other debris. The buzz of chainsaws filled the air Monday afternoon as residents chopped up knocked-down trees and branches that had blocked streets and sidewalks.

    Patrick warned that flooding could last for days as rain continued to fall on already saturated ground.

    “This is not a one-day event,” he said.

    President Joe Biden was getting regular updates on the storm after it made landfall and called the Houston mayor on Monday, the White House said. He told the mayor his administration will make sure Texans have the resources they need to get through the storm and recovery.

    Several companies with refineries or industrial plants in the area reported that the power disruptions necessitated the flaring of gases at the facilities.

    Marathon Petroleum Corp. said it conducted a “safe combustion of excess gases” at its Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, but did not provide information on the amount of gas flared or how long it would continue. Formosa Plastics Corporation and Freeport LNG also reported flaring related to Beryl, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

    Companies have 24 hours to share emissions data after the flaring stops, a representative from the TCEQ said in an email.

    The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. In Jamaica, officials said Monday that island residents will have to contend with food shortages after Beryl destroyed over $6.4 million in crops and supporting infrastructure.

    Beryl was forecast to bring more strong rain and winds into additional states over the coming days. One of those, Missouri was already dealing with a wet summer. Heavy rains unrelated to the storm prompted several water rescues around the city of Columbia, where rivers and creeks were already high ahead of Beryl’s expected arrival on Tuesday.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Corey Williams in Detroit; Julie Walker in New York; Melina Walling in Chicago; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.

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  • Mayor Whitmire: “Stay Home. Stay Off the Roads”

    Mayor Whitmire: “Stay Home. Stay Off the Roads”


    “Most of the city is experiencing the dirty side of a very serious hurricane,” Mayor John Whitmire said as he began this morning’s 11 o’clock press conference on the progress of Beryl. He and other departmental officials repeatedly urged residents to stay off the roads.

    “Our traffic lights are damaged. It’s going to take hours if not days to get them back in operation,” Whitmire said. He said if drivers had to be out, they need to slow down as they go through intersections. But again, it would be better to stay off the roads. “Shelter in place.”

    Generators have failed at a number of locations including the George R. Brown Convention Center and the city’s BARC center for animals, he said.

    “Most of the city’s multi service centers are without power. We know we have a lot of infrastructure challenges in this city.”

    Most of the bayous are swollen and being monitored. Some such as Brays Bayou is out of its banks.  There’s a very serious amount of water in excess of 10 inches in most of our city.”

    Officials said the city’s efforts right now are concentrated on saving lives and that assessment and debris cleanup will come later. Whitmire asked residents to exercise patience and mentioned that flights were not going out at the city’s two airports.

    First responders are risking their lives to save people, Whitmire said, adding that this morning these rescuers saved a person’s life at Highway 288 and Holly Hall. He said that in the last hour they had received more than 400 calls for help.

    We had a fire fatality early this morning,” Fire Chief Samuel Peña said, adding that it was still under investigation whether this was storm related or due to an electrical malfunction. 

    There will be another briefing this afternoon, Whitmire said, at which time he hopes to have a better assessment of the city’s needs.

    Additional resources are coming from the county and the state, Whitmire said, adding that he has been contacted by the White House. CenterPoint is bringing in thousands of addition personnel, he said.

    “Getting the power back on is one of our highest priorities,” Whitmire said. “I do not have power. We’re all in this together.”

    Margaret Downing

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  • With Beryl on its Way, Mayor Whitmire Urges Residents to Hunker Down

    With Beryl on its Way, Mayor Whitmire Urges Residents to Hunker Down


    As Beryl continued its path toward Texas landfill, Mayor John Whitmire and other Houston area officials urged local residents to stay home as of 10 p.m. Sunday to stay safe and not add extra demands on first responders poised to go into action as the storm’s effects are felt here.

    As of 5 p.m. Sunday, Beryl was expected to make landfall as a hurricane. There is a potential for power outages lasting two days.

    “To all Houstonians, we have to take Beryl very, very seriously,” Whitmire said as he began his press conference. “Tomorrow, city employees are to work from home. Municipal courts, other services will be suspended and determined late tomorrow evening about Tuesday.”

    Whitmire said surrounding governments including Montgomery and Fort Bend counties have offered their assistance. Local school district have closed for Monday and in Houston ISD classes are canceled for Monday and Tuesday.

    “This storm has been unpredictable from day one. The conditions that you go to sleep tonight will not be the same as you you will wake up in the mornings,” Whitmire said. He said the winds and rain will start getting very intense around midnight. “We will have street flooding.”

    click to enlarge

    After the first outer band went through, Buffalo Bayou along Memorial was already filling up.

    Photo by Jack Gorman

    Metro service was scheduled to stop around 10 p.m. Sunday and resume around 8 a.m. Monday, conditions permitting. Most city employees were told to work from home on Monday.

    Acting Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said “The simple fact is we’re more prepared now than we ever have been for a storm like this. I think we have increased now to about 20 highway rescue trucks. And we have prepositioned around the city. We have hundreds of personnel who have been trained in swift water so we’re much more prepared.

    “How can the public help? Let me echo the mayor and the commissioner — to stay off the road. I will go a step further and ask the bars and nightclubs if you can help us out, if you close earlier you’ll get your employees home and safe.”

    Extra attention will be focused on the western portion of the city which is expected to see the worst of the storm as it moves through. Officials said they hoped Beryl would move through the area quickly.

    Precinct 2 County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said special attention will be paid to conditions along the San Jacinto River as well. “Wind will be our greatest threat and 10 o’clock tonight should be your no-go to be on the road.”

    Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey said they have 16 crews already in position in flood prone areas in his district.  Harris County Judge Lina Hildalgo was not present and it was reported she would have her own press conference later Sunday.

    Fire Chief Samuel Peña said “We have additional water strike teams. We have additional high water vehicles.” He said they’re also teamed up with the city’s Public Works Department to ensure that they are clearing debris from the streets. He also warned residents with generators to be careful that they don’t fall victim to carbon monoxide poisoning.

    Whitmire said he has been in constant contact with Acting Governor Dan Patrick and that the city has been coordinating efforts with the Department of Transportation, the State Emergency Center and the Department of Public Safety. 

    Margaret Downing

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  • ‘The hotel is shutting down:’ Port Lavaca evacuating ahead of Beryl

    ‘The hotel is shutting down:’ Port Lavaca evacuating ahead of Beryl

    PORT LAVACA, Texas – As Tropical Storm Beryl eyes up its final track along the Texas Gulf Coast, entire communities are fleeing for higher and drier ground.

    On Saturday night, hotel staff at the Holiday Inn Express in Port Lavaca hand-delivered notices to every guest in the hotel alerting them that they had to leave in the morning as everyone is evacuating.

    SEE ALSO: Hurricane and Tropical Storm Warnings issued ahead of Beryl’s expected landfall

    “The hotel is shutting down for the Hurricane Beryl. Everyone must check out in the morning,” reads the notice. “Media crew is excluded.”

    The hotel is positioned right alongside the Lavaca Bay, which could see storm surge as high as six feet above ground level.

    KPRC2′s Gage Goulding and Photojournalist Oscar Chavez are both positioned at this hotel to intercept Beryl.

    Beryl is forecast to strengthen to a hurricane once again before making its third and final landfall.

    Winds from then Hurricane Beryl could reach as high as 110 mph, according to forecasts.

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

    Gage Goulding, Oscar Chavez

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