HOUSTON (AP) — Soaring heat temperatures returned to Houston on Tuesday, adding to the misery of millions of people who remain without power. hurricane beryl The plane crashed in Texas, where residents were left looking for a place to escape the heat and refuel as a prolonged power outage weighed on one of the nation's largest cities.
Frustratingly, Houston appeared to be buckling under a weaker storm than the one that preceded it. State officials have faced questions about whether Houston Power Co. is adequately prepared, with one official saying he would withhold judgment until the lights come back on.
Hospitals are starting to feel the strain, too: Nearly 36 hours after Beryl made landfall, the Texas lieutenant governor said a sports and activity center would be used temporarily to house 250 patients awaiting discharge, but those patients could not be sent to homes without power.
People cope as best they can.
“We can handle it, but the kids can't,” Walter Perez, 49, said early Tuesday as he arrived at celebrity pastor Joel Osteen's Houston megachurch There was a cooling center and 40 bottles of water were distributed.
Perez said his family – which includes his wife, a three-year-old son, a three-week-old daughter and his father-in-law – was going through a period he described as “bad, bad, bad, bad.” After the night, they retreated from their apartment.
Highs in Houston climbed back into the 90s on Tuesday (above 32.2 degrees Celsius), with humidity threatening to make things even hotter. The National Weather Service said the situation was potentially dangerous due to a lack of power and air conditioning.
beryl, The hurricane, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday, killed at least seven people in the United States (one in Louisiana and six in Texas) and at least 11 in the Caribbean.
Nearly 2 million homes and businesses were without power around Houston on Tuesday, down from a peak of more than 2.7 million on Monday. According to PowerOutage.us. For many, it was a tragic repeat of may storm Eight people died and nearly a million people were left without power on flooded streets.
In communities starved for air conditioning, food spoils in listless refrigerators. There were long lines of cars and people at any fast food restaurant, food truck or gas station that had power and was open.
Customers lined up around the block to eat at KFC, Jack in the Box or Denny's, or just to breathe in the cool air for a few minutes. Dwight Yell, 54, had electricity at home, but he took a disabled neighbor who didn't have electricity to Denny's house to buy food.
He complained that city and state officials did not adequately warn residents that the storm was initially expected to make landfall further up the coast: “They didn't give us enough warning that maybe we could go there to refuel or prepare to get out of town if the lights went out.”
Robin Taylor got takeout from Denny's and was tired of the same struggle. She has been living in a hotel since a May storm damaged her home. When Beryl attacks, her hotel room is flooded.
She's angry that Houston seems unprepared to handle the aftermath of a Category 1 storm stronger in the past.
“There's no WiFi, there's no power, and it's hot outside. It's dangerous for people. It's really a big problem,” Taylor said. “People are going to die in their homes in this hot weather.”
Nim Kidd, director of the state's emergency management department, stressed that restoring power was a top priority. CenterPoint Energy in Houston said it aimed to restore power to 1 million customers by the end of Wednesday.
But for others, getting the lights back on can take days or longer. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who served as acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott was overseas, said nursing homes and assisted living centers are a top priority. Sixteen hospitals were relying on generator power Tuesday morning, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Patrick urged utilities to restore power quickly and said he would later evaluate whether they had done enough before the storm.
A top executive at CenterPoint Energy, which covers much of Houston, defended the utility's preparedness and response.
“From my perspective, having the storm pass at 3 p.m. and having these crews come in late at night and have everything ready to go out and start working by 5 a.m. is pretty impressive because we at CenterPoint Energy Vice President of Regulatory Policy Brad Tutunjian said during a media briefing on Tuesday.
Kyuta Allen took her family to a Houston community center to cool off and use the Internet to work and take evening classes online.
“You could leave the door open during the day, but at night you had to board it up and lock it — like locking yourself in a sauna,” she said.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency in parts of the state Tuesday afternoon after trees were toppled, homes damaged and thousands without power.
When Beryl lands, it's nowhere near as powerful as a Level 5 behemoth tearing a deadly path parts of mexico and Caribbean Sea.
Beryl is the first storm to develop into a storm Category 5 In the Atlantic Ocean. Jamaican officials said Monday that islanders must Coping with food shortages Beryl destroyed more than $6.4 million worth of crops and supporting infrastructure.
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Contributing to this report was Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas. Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland.
