TEXAS: Over 1.3 million homes and businesses in Texas remained without power on Thursday, four days after Hurricane Beryl hit the state with strong winds and heavy flooding, leading to frustration among residents enduring extreme heat.
Around 1.1 million of those without power were customers of CenterPoint Energy, the state’s largest provider, according to data from PowerOutage.us. Although CenterPoint had restored power to 1.16 million customers since the storm, it faced increased scrutiny for its preparedness. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia called the slow power restoration a public health crisis in a letter to CenterPoint.
CenterPoint announced it expected to restore power to an additional 400,000 customers by Friday and 350,000 more by Sunday. In total, 2.26 million of its customers lost power during the storm. The utility cited extensive tree damage, worsened by recent unusual weather patterns including freezes, drought, and heavy rain.
Temperatures in southeast Texas were forecasted to be in the low to mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit (low to mid-32 degrees Celsius) on Thursday, with heat indices in the 100s, according to the National Weather Service.
Damage from Beryl could cost U.S. insurers approximately $2.7 million, as estimated by catastrophe modeling company Karen Clark & Co. Beryl, which made landfall as a Category-1 storm early Monday morning, caused major disruptions at Gulf Coast ports and affected oil and gas refining and production, though many operations resumed by Thursday.
The Texas Gulf Coast, home to significant oil and gas processing facilities and chemical manufacturers, contributes 40% of U.S. oil output and 20% of natural gas production. Freeport LNG, one of the largest liquefied natural gas facilities in the U.S., was set to restart operations on Thursday after reducing production for the storm over the weekend, though operations were limited due to port restrictions.
Chemical maker Olin declared a force majeure for some product and aromatic shipments after Beryl caused damage to its Freeport facilities.
