HOUSTON — CenterPoint Energy sent out a new update Wednesday night on progress made to restore power to the thousands of customers who've been without it since a deadly and destructive storm hit the Houston area last week.
As of 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, CenterPoint reported it has restored power to 97%, or more than 890,000, customers impacted by the storm. The number of customers without power was just below 30,000 Wednesday night.
The company said any remaining outages will be mainly isolated instances in certain locations where there is a lot of damage or where customers are unable to receive power.
“We believe it is a privilege to serve our customers and communities,” said Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President of Electric Business, in a statement. “That is why we are so committed to working around-the-clock to get the lights and air conditioning back on for customers who have had to endure six difficult days without power, and we will not stop until every last customer is restored.”
CenterPoint won’t be able to restore power to customers who had their weatherhead damaged in the storm. Customers who have had their weatherhead damaged will need to contact a qualified electrician for repairs.
If you’re not familiar with a weatherhead, it’s the device where power comes into the home through an electrical service drop. It’s often a pipe located on the side of a home or building. Be careful around any wires near your weatherhead.
You can learn more about weatherheads on the CenterPoint Energy website.
For customers who rely on power for potential life-saving equipment, CenterPoint says even when the power comes back, they can’t guarantee there won't be interruptions, so they say to make sure there’s a reliable backup supply or alternate plan.
CenterPoint also said they donated about 20 tons of ice and 20,000 water bottles to nonprofit organizations, low-income senior citizen facilities and schools in the Houston area.
“As our communities have shown many times before following natural disasters, the response from Houstonians and others in the wake of the devastating May 16 storm has been nothing short of extraordinary,” Wilson said in the statement.
Here are some safety tips from CenterPoint:
- Stay at least 35 feet away from downed power lines and damaged utility equipment. Be especially mindful of downed lines that could be hidden and treat all downed lines as if they are energized.
- Be cautious around work crews and give them plenty of room to safely assess damage and make repairs.
- Only use a portable generator in a well-ventilated area and never run it inside or in a garage to avoid carbon monoxide fumes, which can be deadly.
- Never connect a portable electric generator directly to your building's electrical system during a power outage; electricity could backfeed into the power lines, potentially endangering CenterPoint workers, mutual assistance workers or members of the public.
You can get a closer look at it and the latest outage numbers here. An interactive map can be found here.