Hurricane Beryl Recovery Update Sunday, July 14th
Good afternoon. I wanted to update you again on the recovery efforts that are ongoing.
We participated in a call with Precinct 2 Commissioner Garcia, local mayors, and emergency response teams from the cities in our region this afternoon.
As of 4:00 pm, CenterPoint is reporting that 298 homes in Shoreacres are without power. That is pretty close to my anecdotal guesstimate of 40-50% prior to the call. There are trucks in the city today and crews are working hard in the heat to get us back in service. The power has been restored to City Hall, Police and Public Works and we are no longer running on generated power.
We hope to have Shoreacres Blvd between Hwy 146 and Broadway open this afternoon. The section that is closed between Broadway and Byway should be cleared tomorrow. We are waiting for a very large tree to be removed by crews from Precinct 2.
Commissioner Garcia asked that we relay several items for your interest. First, his team has set up cooling centers in our area if you need to rest up and charge your phones. The closest to Shoreacres will be the East Harris County Activity Center at 7340 Spencer Highway and the Bay Area Community Center at 5002 East NASA Parkway.
Second, local law enforcement is taking a zero tolerance stance against anyone that threatens or intimidates CenterPoint crews. I find it in incredible that anyone would do that and we have had no reports of those types of behaviors in Shoreacres but our officers will also take this stance. CenterPoint management certainly needs to be held accountable but the workers in the field are not responsible for any delays to our electricity service. If anything, take them a bottle of cold water and say thank you.
Third, Commissioner Garcia and CenterPoint representatives want us to spread the word about the false information being shared on Facebook and other social media platforms. There is no truth to those tall tales about CenterPoint not paying linemen, under paying them, not setting them up in hotels, not feeding them, etc. I have seen those comments and they are clearly false. No company would send their workers out of state into our area without a contract for those items. Please do not share this false information.
It’s been a long, hot and tiring week for all of us. We’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It may be dim right now, but it’s there. I’m one of the 298 that are reported to be without power so I understand how frustrating the feeling of loss of control is. But soon that light will come steamrolling through and we will return to our normal lives.
Thank you for hanging in there and showing how resilient those of us in Shoreacres are. We will recover and we will be stronger for it. If you are like me, you have found little tricks that have made life bearable during this yucky, sticky, muggy, HOT weather. We need to share those with each other!
Blessings to you and your family.
Mayor Jennings