HOUSTON — Tens of thousands of Houston-area residents were still without power Thursday after Wednesday night’s severe storms.
Although electricity has been restored to hundreds of thousands of people since the storms, CenterPoint Energy said it could take days for some to get their lights back.
CenterPoint says those without power Thursday night likely won’t have power for the rest of the night, at least.
Most people who lost power got it back Thursday, but many are still waiting.
“I came back to get milk and food for my children,” said north Houston apartment resident Brian Melancon. “The lights have been off since like 9 o’clock last night, and I work nightshift and it’s just unbearable conditions.”
Residents at Melancon’s apartment complex, some with small children, have had to endure the heat as temperatures climbed Thursday afternoon.
“I came to get my milk, but the ice was still kind of cold but it’s getting it’s getting there man,” Melancon said.
Many of them have had to throw away the food they had in their refrigerators.
The sounds of generators hummed throughout the neighborhoods of Augusta Pines Thursday night.
“It’s a waiting game right now,” said resident Donovan Kilmartin.
Kilmartin was one of the few without a generator running in his Augusta Pines neighborhood Thursday night.
He says his family is inside playing games, making the best of the situation.
“I went to work today, the wife took the kids to the children’s museum, went to some areas, just made the best of it,” he said.
CenterPoint said it expects to have the majority of the remaining power outages restored by the end of the day Friday.
The company says that due to significant infrastructure and equipment damage, some of the hardest hit areas could be without power through Sunday.
CenterPoint is also asking customers to check to see if the weatherheads on their homes were damaged by the storms.
If they were damaged, they will need to be fixed by an electrician before CenterPoint can restore power.
Entergy says more than 80% of its customers that were affected now have power.
A little more than 53,000 customers were still without power late Thursday night.
The company said most people should have their electricity restored by 6 p.m. Friday.