HOUSTON — Repairs continue as ten of thousands still do not have electricity more than 48 hours after the landfall of Hurricane Nicholas.
Crews from CenterPoint and other providers have been working around the clock to bring the number of outages down from its peak of nearly half a million.
Nicholas was a hurricane at the time of landfall near the town of Sargent, but just a few hours later was downgraded back to a tropical storm status as it moved through Houston. It still packed enough punch to knock over trees, take down some powerlines and trip transformers.
On Wednesday, CenterPoint Energy said it expected to have the majority of its customers back online by the end of the day, but they warned there would still be isolated outages spread across the region.
“We appreciate our customers’ continued patience and understanding as we work to address the more challenging outage issues caused by the storm’s extensive damage to some parts of our system," said Kenny Mercado, Executive Vice President, Electric Utility, CenterPoint Energy.
Outages as of Thursday morning
CenterPoint reported about 38,000 customers in the immediate Houston area were without power, but that's down from a Tuesday peak of about 460,000. In Brazoria County and portions of Galveston County, provider Texas-New Mexico Power reported there were about 13,000 customers still impacted. Entergy, which services areas north and east of Houston — farther inland — reported only less than a dozen outages early Thursday.
How to track power outages
Please report downed lines at 713-207-2222.
ERCOT's Monday statement on Hurricane Nicholas ahead of landfall
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a statement Monday evening saying it's "preparing the grid to maintain reliability in the face of rain, winds and potential flooding."
ERCOT said any power outages related to Hurricane Nicholas will most likely be at the local level and caused by powerful winds toppling power poles and tree limbs falling on power lines.
Here's ERCOT'S full statement.
"As Tropical Storm Nicholas bears down on Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is preparing the grid to maintain reliability in the face of rain, winds and potential flooding.
In addition to officially alerting ERCOT market participants of the weather threat, ERCOT has acted to reduce planned maintenance-related outages in the area most likely to be affected by Nicholas and instructed power companies to implement their emergency procedures in preparation for the storm.
Any power outages caused by the storm will most likely be at the local distribution level. Local outages can be caused by factors ranging from high winds toppling power poles to tree limbs falling on power lines.
Residents and businesses experiencing power outages should contact their local electric service providers to report those outages and receive updates on restoration times."