The first major hurricane of the year, Beryl, has finally dissipated, but it still casts a long shadow over Texas. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than a week after the storm hit the state, More than 100,000 electricity consumers There were still no powers – most of them in the Houston metropolitan area. now Intense heat and humidity Blanketing the region, many vulnerable residents must endure hot, muggy weather without cooling, with heat indices peaking. 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Although Beryl reached Category 5 strength earlier in the year than any hurricane on record, it made landfall in Texas as a weak Category 1 storm. It hit a region not only familiar with hurricanes — the disastrous Hurricane Harvey was just seven years ago — but with all kinds of extreme weather. Torrential rain, lightning, TornadoAnd the merciless heat that has hit the state this year.
This raises an inevitable question: Why was the local power infrastructure able to withstand the storm?
At the height of Beryl’s influence, About 3 million customers lost power. The Public Utilities Commission of Texas, the state’s main energy regulator, made the announcement Monday An investigation into Centerpoint Energy is underway, Houston’s major power utility. The investigation will examine the utility’s preparation before the storm and its response afterward — both of which appear to have been lacking.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “What CenterPoint is showing us with repeated failures to deliver power is that they seem unable to do their job.” Assistant Press. “This is not a failure of the entire system … this is a complaint of a company that failed to do its job.”
But Houston’s power system problems didn’t start with Hurricane Beryl, although the Tempest exposed its flaws. As the Atlantic Ocean braces for an active hurricane season, the Texas coast may soon be tested again. And as human-caused climate change increases global average temperatures, storms are increasing and rainstorms are dumping more water, increasing the destructive potential of severe weather.
This isn’t Houston’s first rodeo
For some Houstonians, Beryl brought back memories of Hurricane Harvey. “It gives us PTSD, I have to tell you,” said Pablo PintoA professor of public policy at the University of Houston whose home was damaged during Harvey.
Harvey made landfall in Texas at Category 4 strength. It’s a weak one though As the tropical storm approaches Houstonit is An amazing 4.5 feet rain dump inside four daysand left behind $125 billion in lossesHarvey made the second-costliest storm to make landfall in the continental United States.
Pinto co-authored a 2022 report looking back at Harvey And its lasting impact on Houston. It found that one in five residents surveyed said they had not yet fully recovered from the storm. The storm also changed people’s attitudes toward building regulations, a city famous for No zoning laws. More than 90 percent of respondents said they favor policies such as building codes limiting construction in flood plains, barring development in wetlands and elevating flood-prone homes.
However, many of these measures targeted Harvey-specific damage, which was mainly caused by flash flooding rather than the high winds that can cause destruction in a strong storm. “We prepare for the last battle. That’s how we allocate resources,” Pinto said.
And many post-Harvey proposals have been ignored.
Houston’s City Council approved some New rules to deal with flood riskBut people are still there Construction of houses in flood plains And Paving over the swamp That buffer floods, in an effort to accommodate the city Growing population.
Beryl, on the other hand, moved quickly through Houston and caused much of its damage due to strong winds and tornadoes. They are 80 mph gusts The utility toppled over poles and toppled trees onto power lines, causing widespread power outages. In addition to turning off air conditioning during heatwaves, blackouts disrupt power to fuel pumps, forcing residents to Waiting for hours for petrol and diesel from remaining operational stations. That’s a big shock Notoriously sprawling, car-dependent cities.
In this regard, Beryl was more preferred Hurricane Ike When it charged into Houston in 2008 as a Category 2 storm. That storm too Power has been thrown away from millions of peopleAn early caveat is that the region’s energy infrastructure is highly vulnerable to extreme weather.
Together, these hurricanes illustrate that a storm’s intensity is the sole factor in its destructive potential; The severity and extent of a disaster depends on how many people are at risk and what they do or fail to do to prepare. What is it known as? Expand the bullseye effect — As more people and development are pushed into the path of natural disasters, the damage from vulnerable events can also increase.
Houston’s energy problems are beyond the storm
Texas’ famous independent stream expands how it produces electricity. Unusually in Texas, USA The power grid is largely isolated from neighboring states.
It helps Texas avoid scrutiny from federal regulators and runs its own freewheeling electricity market that prioritizes low prices. But this system leaves its citizens vulnerable to power outages. Its current energy grid creates little incentive for power companies to invest in backup power or expensive infrastructure upgrades. So when temperatures drop or rise sharply, causing energy demand to spike while generating capacity is strained, grid operators lean on customers to stop using their power instead of importing power from out of state — or else the grid goes dark. Texas is the regulator Start changing the rules To encourage and consider companies to invest more in grid resilience Construction of more transmission lines with other states.
Within this environment, Houston’s energy system has its own unique problems. “Texas in general — and CenterPoint in particular — had reliability issues, not even during the storm,” said Doug Lewin, an energy analyst who wrote Texas Power and Energy Newsletter. In Texas, Centerpoint ranks among Worst utility for power outages and one Worst in the country for energy efficiency. Texas grocery chain HEB Even installed backup generator Because of CenterPoint’s unreliable service, especially at its Houston-area stores.
Lewin noted that CenterPoint is a government-regulated public utility and therefore a large part of the blame falls on regulators who did not hold the company accountable for the shortfall or provide adequate resources to maintain its operations. “This is systemic negligence,” Lewin said. “It took decades and generations to get to this point, and it will probably take decades to fix.”
But there are some fixes, and some work can be started right away.
One is to deploy microgrids in vulnerable areas. It breaks up the power grid into smaller, independent blocks that can rely on more local power generation, especially from sources like wind and solar. This means that if a main transmission line goes down or roads become impassable, homes and businesses on a microgrid can keep their own lights on.
Money is also available. Includes the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021 $5 billion grant to strengthen power grid Another $5 billion for upgrades across the U.S. to protect against natural disasters and improve reliability. Texas Voters approved it last year as well $1.8 billion for construction Microgrids in critical facilities like hospitals. In April, Harris County, which surrounds Houston, along with five other Texas municipalities, received $250 million in federal funds Installing residential solar power for low-income residents.
“It’s not difficult. The technology is there,” Lewin said. “A year from now, we should have microgrids up and down the coast in Houston, Corpus Christi, Brownsville.”
The bigger challenge may be changing Houston’s approach to regulation and coordination around the power grid and disaster planning, rather than the ad hoc, stand-alone approach that has dominated the region for years. “Some of these solutions require a little more planning,” Pinto said. “These things are kind of taboo in places like Texas.”
