Houston area residents frustrated as they enter sixth day without power and air conditioning in punishing heat

Hundreds of thousands of southeast Texas residents are entering the sixth day in a row suffering brutal heat without air conditioning and many are scrambling to find cool shelters, food, safe drinking water and health care resources. More than 760,000 power customers in southeast Texas remain without power after a hurricane slammed the Gulf Coast Monday, leaving at least 10 people dead in Texas, two dead in Vermont and one dead in Louisiana. Hospitals, assisted living facilities, schools and water treatment plants are scraping for resources after the outages debilitated infrastructure across the region. That has led to mounting frustrations from residents that Houston’s main utility provider was not more prepared for the storm and renewed concerns over the state’s power grid. Pregnant Houston resident worries for her health as the intense heat deprives her of sleep and her fridge sits empty while the outage drags on, making life difficult as she prepares to undergo a C-section in 12 days. Still, half a million Houston-area homes and businesses may not have their power restored until next week, the utility company said, even as triple digit heat indices remain in the forecast. Texas Lt. Gov. criticized the utility, saying ‘we should not have roughly a million homes and businesses without power this far out.’ Since the hurricane pounded the region, heat advisories have been issued every day for the greater Houston area, with high temperatures in the 90s and triple-digit heat indices. As residents desperately try to cool their homes with generators, carbon monoxide poisoning has become a serious concern. In a neighboring suburb to Houston, more than 41 people suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. In another county, at least two people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning and fire departments received more than 200 carbon monoxide poisoning calls in 24 hours. The US Department of Health and Human Services on Friday declared a public health emergency for Texas. Senior care facilities and residents who rely on electric medical devices are particularly at risk. A 71-year-old woman died near Crystal Beach after her oxygen machine ran out of battery power and her generator shut down. A dozen Houston area hospitals are in a state of ‘internal disaster’ and more than 40 dialysis clinics are struggling with outages, a Texas official said. Countless families have lost food in their warming fridges as many stores are shuttered, leaving government offices, food banks and other public services scrambling to distribute food to underserved areas. Scores of homes are also without drinking water as storm damage and power outages have left wastewater treatment plants offline. For another resident, who has gestational diabetes, it’s been difficult to stay on the strict diet she needs to be on. The crisis comes more than three years after massive power outages hit the state. In February 2021, a deep freeze killed more than 200 people and left millions of customers without power and heat for days. Texas Gov. has requested an investigation into the utility and other electric companies in the wake of the outages. Patrick on Friday criticized the utility’s communication with customers and said they should have been ready for any storm. ‘People have a right to be extremely frustrated with the utility. People are suffering through terribly oppressive heat, a lack of food and gasoline availability, debris everywhere, and much more.’ During a news conference, Patrick was asked if the state is considering modifying the power grid, which has encountered several issues over the years due to severe weather. ‘The grid is a whole different issue which we’re addressing, have been addressing, and will continue to address,’ Patrick said. Houston resident is displaced for the second time after a hurricane – and this time it’s because her home is too hot to live in. Because her apartment gets as hot as 96 degrees during the day, she’s been forced to stay at different friends’ apartments each night and carry around her belongings in her car. For another resident, the crisis is a repeat of a previous storm. They are displaced from their home and are left without any communication or updates. After their previous home was destroyed, they stayed with friends in the Houston area, and then decided to stay there permanently for a fresh start. But now, they are frustrated to be back in this position of displacement. But they are confident they will have a home to go to once the power comes back on.