During the power outage following the storm, a shocking lack of support in vulnerable communities reflected a larger breakdown in coordination between the state, CenterPoint Energy, and local governments.
Carol Samuel, 76, was born, raised, and educated in Third Ward, a sprawling and storied community of color in Houston. She now lives on the third floor of the Law Harrington Senior Living Center, where she and roughly half of the residents have disabilities or severe health problems. Even before Hurricane Beryl hit the city on July 8, spawning a blackout, the elevators were broken.
But a shocking lack of support provided for Samuel and others in Houston neighborhoods, including many left to fend for themselves for as long as 10 days in hot homes without water, air conditioning, or lights in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, reflects a larger breakdown in communication and coordination between the state, CenterPoint Energy, Harris County, the City of Houston, and communities across the region, according to interviews and anexamination of city records and county emergency...
But Third Ward community leaders, including those at the resident council of the Houston Housing Authority’s largest public housing complex Cuney Homes, the tenants council at the Law Harrington Senior Living Center, and SHAPE Community Center told the“We were asking, ‘Does anyone care about us?’” Law Harrington Senior Living Center’s tenant council president Debbie Deacon told theEd Pettitt moved to Third Ward in 2011, and, ever since, the environmental justice researcher has been volunteering...
Although Harris County’s Excessive Heat Plan, updated on March 2024, also guides it to coordinate with the local electric utility to identify and develop procedures for the operation of “… cooling centers that could be exempt from blackouts,” Brian Murray, deputy coordinator of Harris County’s emergency management office, told theTaylor, the city emergency management spokesperson said, “CenterPoint has a seat in our Emergency Operations Center for every incident involving significant power loss.
Spokespeople for both the city and county said that information was disseminated through the media, nongovernmental organizations, and through an emergency alert system. But in order to get alerts, residents must sign up to receive voice calls, text messages, and emails from the city or county. Roughly 220,000 people are signed up withand Hurricane Beryl, we used every possible channel to let residents know how to find resources such as cooling centers, food, water, and ice.” Murray said.
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