Houston Residents ‘in Hell’ After Beryl Cuts Power for Millions

AFP/APP

Houston: Josh Vance stands in the air-conditioned entrance of Sunnyside Community Center in Houston, Texas, one of the designated “cooling centers” open to the public after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power during a potent heat wave.

“Dealing with the heat at home, it’s terrible. Honestly, we’re suffering,” he said.

Vance is among one million customers still without electricity, four days after the storm blew through the city.

Though the state’s prominent oil and gas industry weathered the storm, Beryl still flooded neighborhoods and roads, uprooted trees, and damaged power poles and transmission lines.

By the time the hurricane dissipated, seven people in Texas were dead, and two million customers—most of them in Houston—were without power, with half still waiting for it to be restored by Friday, according to the power outage.

While grid operators work to reconnect power, hundreds gather in cooling centers or wait in their cars to pick up ice, water, and fresh food.

Vance, 43, lives in Houston with his two children and pet cat but has spent much of the past week sheltering in the cooling center to escape temperatures that have peaked over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius).

“You’d be amazed how much we’re so acclimated to [electricity], and without the power, it’s living in hell,” he said.