Montgomery County Judge Keough shares update on discussion with Power Providers on Restoration

On Wednesday, July 10 at 8:09 p.m., Montgomery County Judge Keough shared an update on his discussion on power restoration with Entergy, CenterPoint, Sam Houston Electric Coop, and Mid South. Read his statement below:

“Folks please bear with me as I can only work or give updates but not necessarily both at the same time. Today was a on the ground work day for me and I’m just getting to the updates to share.

While I was at one of our distribution sites today working to get food, Ice and Water distributed I was also on the phone with our power providers. Entergy has been quick to answer questions and give updates and I provided an update earlier today based off the info I had then. I will get another update first thing in the morning based off today’s progress and will share then.

After some wrangling I finally made contact with CenterPoint. They seem to have not been as prepared to respond as others and are just finishing assessments of the damages. While they have made some progress on restoration I have conveyed to them that this progress is neither fast enough nor satisfactory. At my insistence they have sent a representative to work in our Emergency Operations Center and to be on hand to provide in real time updates starting tomorrow morning.

As I have driven around the county today it’s obvious we took significant damage to the power lines in several places. Some of which will require days of work to clear the trees and replace the power lines. Entergy has made great progress on the easier fixes but they’re now pushing into the harder hit areas. Entergy brought in hundreds of linemen and have them working 16 hour days.

Centerpoint’s damage is just as bad but I’ve seen few linemen and teams working. Your frustration along with mine and our commissioners has been conveyed and they know we demand better and that I want a plan with goals in place asap. More to come as I get those details from them in the morning.

Sam Houston Electric Coop has also increased their linemen and are working in the harder hit areas today. While progress is being made they have substantial damage to now repair that will take a few days. More information as I get it to come.

Mid South has restored a huge portion today and gets into the harder hit areas tomorrow. They have restored 94% who lost power so far. So the last bit is a top priority. More details to come as I get an update twice a day from them.

We have several cooling centers opening tomorrow in addition to our shelters and supply distribution centers with food, water and Ice. Lots of moving parts with hundreds of county employees working 16 hour days as well clearing roads, distributing supplies and fulfilling resource needs across the county.

I will share details of the cooling centers later this evening as my team wraps up the details.”

Source: Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough

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