More than 1.3 million homes and businesses in Texas remained without power on Thursday, four days after Hurricane Beryl struck the state with fierce winds and heavy
flooding. The power outages have sparked frustration among residents enduring extreme heat.
Approximately 1.1 million of those without power are customers of CenterPoint Energy, the state's largest utility provider, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
Despite restoring power to 1.16 million customers since the storm, CenterPoint is facing increased scrutiny over its preparations for Beryl. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia described the slow restoration of power as a public health crisis in a letter to CenterPoint.
CenterPoint announced on Wednesday that it expects to restore power to an additional 400,000 customers by Friday and 350,000 more by Sunday. In total, 2.26 million customers lost power during the storm.
"Crews have identified extensive tree damage across the company's system. Trees in the Greater Houston area were particularly vulnerable due to three years of unusual weather, including significant freezes, drought, and heavy rain this past spring," CenterPoint said in a statement.
Temperatures in southeast Texas were expected to range from the low to mid-90s Fahrenheit (low to mid-30s Celsius) on Thursday, with heat indices in the 100s, according to the National Weather Service.
Damage from Beryl could cost U.S. insurers roughly $2.7 million, according to catastrophe modeling company Karen Clark & Co.
Beryl, which made landfall as a Category-1 storm early Monday morning, shut down major ports along the Gulf Coast and disrupted some refining and production processes, though many resumed normal operations by Thursday.
The Texas Gulf Coast hosts massive oil and gas processing facilities, export plants, and chemical manufacturers. Texas accounts for 40% of U.S. oil output and 20% of the country's natural gas production.
Freeport LNG, one of the largest liquefied natural gas facilities in the United States, was set to restart operations on Thursday after ramping down production for the storm over the weekend.
However, operations at the facility 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. Photo by WhisperToMe, Wikimedia commons.