Weather
Tropical Storm Edouard Update: CenterPoint Energy responding to Initial Impacts across Greater Houston Area
As part of its overall response to the impacts of Tropical Storm Edouard, CenterPoint Energy continues to take a series of actions, including mobilizing 2,700 frontline workers, restoring power for approximately 1,000 customers so far, coordinating closely with local, state and federal officials, and monitoring weather conditions 24/7, among other critical actions.
Tropical Storm Edouard began impacting the Upper Texas Coast around 10:00 a.m. today with sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and forecast heavy rainfall of two to four inches with locally higher amounts further East. For the Greater Houston area, sustained winds are expected to be 20 to 30 miles per hour with isolated gusts up to 40 mph. Currently, approximately 750 customers are experiencing storm-related outages, and 2,700 frontline workers and contractors are responding to restore power safely and as quickly as possible. As the storm continues to move inland, CenterPoint Energy urges all customers to enroll in Power Alert Service® to receive important updates about their gas and electric service via text, email or phone calls, including outage details and estimated restoration times.
“Our team is fully focused on responding to the impacts of Tropical Storm Edouard and restoring power to customers experiencing outages safely and as quickly as possible. Our Emergency Operations Center remains activated and we continue to urge customers and the public to stay safe as the storm continues,” said Nathan Brownell, CenterPoint’s Vice President of Resilience & Capital Delivery and Incident Commander.
At 5:00 p.m. today, CenterPoint leaders will conduct a public briefing about the company’s ongoing storm response efforts and forecasted weather conditions for Tuesday evening and Wednesday.
Tropical Storm Edouard Response: Key Actions
To prepare for and respond to the impacts of Tropical Storm Edouard on the Greater Houston area, CenterPoint Energy has taken the following actions for its customers:
- Activated Emergency Operations Center: Coordinating local preparedness and response efforts.
- Mobilized frontline workers: Mobilized 2,700 frontline personnel to restore power for impacted customers safely and as quickly as possible.
- Monitoring weather conditions: Closely monitoring National Weather Serviceforecasts and evolving weather conditions that could impact Texas.
- Communicating with customers: Communicating directly to customers via email, phone, text or other channels to keep them informed and prepared, with nearly 1 million communications sent to date.
- Conducting outreach to critical care customers: Reaching out to identified Critical Care Residential and Chronic Condition Residential electric customers by email, phone and/or text to make them aware of potential outages, with more than 1,000 communications sent to date.
- Coordinating with government officials: Providing regular updates to federal, state, county and city officials regarding preparedness activities.
Emergency Communications: Sign Up for Power Alert Service®
To receive important updates about gas and electric service via phone call, text or email, including outage details and estimated restoration times, CenterPoint Energy customers are strongly encouraged to enroll in Power Alert Service®. As part of CenterPoint Energy’s overall emergency communications efforts, customers can stay up to date on local outages with its cloud-based Outage Tracker, available in English and Spanish, which allows customers to see outages and restoration times by county, city and zip code.
Important Information for Electric Customers
Within 24 hours of Tropical Storm Edouard exiting the Greater Houston area, CenterPoint Energy will communicate an estimated time of restoration for the entire system and will update estimates at least daily thereafter.
In order to safely and timely restore service for its customers, the initial focus in the storm’s aftermath will be assessing damage to the electric system and rerouting power on unaffected power lines. Line workers will implement a cut-and-clear process, which allows them to identify and isolate areas of damage to more quickly restore communities along sections that are not impacted.
Emergency Preparations: What Customers Can Do to Stay Safe
To help ensure their safety, CenterPoint Energy is encouraging all its customers and their families to follow their emergency plan during this event. Customers can find specific safety tips to help them prepare at CenterPointEnergy.com/ActionCenter.
Source: Centerpoint Energy
