- Texans face days-long deadly heatwave without power
- Over a week after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, nearly 60,000 residents are still without power
- It comes amid a deadly heatwave has swept through the state, with temperatures soaring up to 110°F (43°C)
- The heatwave has already claimed over a dozen lives
- With temperatures expected to remain high, Houston has opened about 150 relief centres
Texans face days-long deadly heatwave without power
Over a week after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, nearly 60,000 residents are still without power. This prolonged outage is particularly dangerous as a deadly heatwave has swept through the state, with temperatures soaring up to 110°F (43°C). The heatwave has already claimed over a dozen lives.
Frustrations are mounting in Houston, where armed residents have reportedly harassed energy workers from CenterPoint Energy. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has criticised the company, demanding answers and improvements by July 31 to prevent future outages. At the peak of the crisis, nearly three million Texans were without power, severely straining local hospitals and turning churches, libraries, and Houston’s football stadium into emergency cooling centres and makeshift hospitals.
Texas and our state agency partners continue to support communities impacted by Hurricane #Beryl. @TDEM
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 17, 2024
Texas has distributed truckloads of resources, including:
Over 6.5 million bottles of water
Over 949,400 hot and ready-to-eat meals
Over 233,300 bags of ice pic.twitter.com/CF3cUUsarE
With temperatures expected to remain high, Houston has opened about 150 relief centres to help residents cope with the heat. Climate scientists link the increasing frequency and intensity of such heatwaves to human-led climate change. The heat has also affected other states, including Oregon, which typically enjoys milder weather.
The ongoing power issues combined with the extreme heat have highlighted the urgent need for better infrastructure to handle such disasters, as communities struggle to stay safe in increasingly hostile weather conditions.