Houston is struggling through Hurricane Beryl’s chaotic aftermath, with blackouts, blocked roads, internet disruptions and spotty access to gas expected to linger well after the storm’s floodwaters recede.
More than 1 million homes and businesses are likely to be without power until at least Wednesday night, according to the region’s main electric utility, CenterPoint Energy Inc. The outages, which at their peak cut power to more than 2.5 million customers across the region, knocked out cell phone towers, traffic lights and a major data center, while leaving residents to swelter through a heat wave.
Many sought the shelter of air-conditioned hotel rooms only to find the properties either blacked out or booked solid.
The storm itself had moved on. Beryl, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone after striking Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, brought heavy rain Tuesday to Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, carving a path to the northeast. The National Weather Service warned that northern New York and New England faced flash-flooding risks Wednesday.
But in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, recovery will take time. AccuWeather Inc. estimated Beryl’s cost in the US, counting both damages and economic losses, could reach $28 billion to $32 billion. The Associated Press reported at least seven US deaths from the storm, six in Texas and one in Louisiana.
Patricia Chapman and her mother Michelle Brown, who have a seafood catering business, found themselves stuck at home without power, unable to work or even talk to customers because cell service kept failing.
“We’re losing money,” said Brown, 55. “Normally, we’d be working right now.”
Instead, they tried to look after Chapman’s four children, all under age 10, in 95-degree heat. They searched for a hotel room, with no luck. Chapman, 34, said the city seemed less ready for Beryl than it had been for some of the other storms it has faced in the past, like Hurricane Harvey in 2017.