Now we know. A weak Cat 1 storm that directly hits Houston will cause extensive power loss. That's the new expectation. And it's early July. Get your generators ready. https://spacecityweather.com/ July 8, 2024 at 3:42 pm by Eric Berger What is up with all these power outages? I’ve got to tell you, I’m rather surprised by the extent of the power outages today due to downed trees, power lines, and damaged transmission equipment. As of 2:30 pm CT today, CenterPoint reports that 2.2 million of its Houston-area customers are without electricity, or about 85 percent of them. I’m blown away because, during Hurricane Ike in 2008, there were about 2.1 million customers without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm. If you had asked me before Beryl whether I expected to see comparable outages during this storm, I would have emphatically said no. Preliminary observations of maximum wind gusts during Hurricane Beryl’s passage through Houston. (NOAA) Large chunks of the Houston metro area experienced sustained winds of 75 to 90 mph during Hurricane Ike, which made landfall with 110 mph winds. However, during Beryl, the maximum sustained winds that most communities experienced were on the order of 45 to 70 mph. (Beryl made landfall about 80 miles south of Houston with 80-mph sustained winds). So I really don’t understand why a majority of the Houston region is without power this afternoon. Beryl was a serious wind storm, but it was not Ike. July 7, 2024 at 4:42 pm by Eric Berger Some thoughts on power outages I’ve spent a couple of hours today doing some digging to try and set some expectations for power outages tonight and later on Monday as the core of Beryl’s winds move into the greater Houston area. Our most recent tropical system with a major “wind” component was Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm that made landfall in 2008. It came ashore about 90 miles further east than where we expect Beryl, but it was a much larger and more powerful hurricane. Here is what Ike’s sustained winds looked like. Hurricane Ike sustained winds. (NOAA) Ike knocked out power to 2.1 million CenterPoint Energy customers in Houston, and 10 days later the power remained out for about one-third of these customers. I want to be clear, I do not think Beryl will have this magnitude of an effect. Far from it, likely. But it’s useful to study the map of outages below and see where there were fewer problems (i.e. northwest Houston). Power outages from Hurricane Ike immediately after the storm, and 10 days later. (CenterPoint) My back-of-the-envelope estimate here is that widespread power outages start to become more likely at sustained wind speeds of about 60 mph. The majority of Houston will probably less than this tonight, although such winds are likely in many areas of Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Matagorda counties. They are also possible west of Houston, in locations such as Katy. My general expectation, therefore, is that power losses will be in the hundreds of thousands, and restorations in days; rather that losses above 1 million with a week or two of restoration. However that is a guess rather than a firm conviction, and given since so many people are understandably concerned about this issue. Finally, I very much do not expect hurricane-force sustained winds tonight in any part of the Houston metro area apart from the immediate coast near Matagorda, and possibly locations such as Freeport or Lake Jackson. For what it’s worth, CenterPoint’s estimate for Category 1 winds is: “extensive damage to power lines and poles likely will result in power outages that could last a few to several days.” Graphic courtesy of CenterPoint. The bottom line is that power outages will be a wait-and-see game. Good luck. Charge those phones now, my friends.
Reading through the last few pages of this thread really get the sense of the social-economic level of Clutchfans. Houston has a lot of people who can’t afford generators or live in apartments or poorer housing that doesn’t have room for generators and spare fuel. Prolonged power outages are hitting them even harder.
Anything higher than Beryl and I think national help would come quicker to Houston and restore things but valid point you're making about the Houston area's infrastructure
This. This sh** is about to become like the one in Puerto Rico the way it's going. If Centerpoint can't even maintain a website for outages, I have zero faith they know how to do anything else. Yup. Lot of fools out here assuming everyone has the 1. the means to afford a generator 2. the ability to safely operate and maintain one 3. can use a generator in their living conditions - apts, multi unit etc..
Exactly this. Lot of assumptions from real TOUGH guys on this message board instead of just a tiny bit of compassion.
Why not? It's in the description for damage caused by a category 1. This was a strengthening hurricane at landfall, not a weakening one and it hit at the worst possible angle for greater Houston. The eyewall wobbled and put central Houston in the worst winds (see the Radar Rewind video below). Ike was stronger but the left side of the hurricane was over most of Houston. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (weather.gov) Category One Hurricane Winds 74-95 mph (64-82 kt or 119-153 km/hr). Very dangerous winds will produce some damage: Well-constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding and gutters. Large branches of trees will snap and shallowly rooted trees may be toppled. Extensive damage to power lines and poles likely will result in power outages that could last a few to several days.
I don't know about ya'll but I'm feeling guilty of having power while I know many still don't. I just got power a day ago but the time I spent without power where hell in this heat.
I feel for the people without it still, especially since summer time is in full force for the Greater Houston area. That being said, instead of feeling too bad, I'm mostly feeling grateful for being able to work again and just get back to a sense of normalcy. What part of town are you in? We got ours back late morning yesterday.
I'm in the sugar land/fort bend area, closer to Sugar Land.... I live like 5 min away from where The Space Cowboys play... I got mine Tuesday around 1, top story of the house was already at 90.... I'm feeling grateful but CenterPoint just released notice they are restoring like 450k by tomorrow night and 350k more by Sunday.... There are people that have been without power and lights since Sunday and are going to have to wait til this Sunday to have a shot at being one of those restored. Even then some people wont have power even after that. I have power and even I'm feeling anxiety for them to fix this already....
It was a weak Category 1 hurricane (80 mph) when it made landfall. By the time it got to Sugarland, it was a strong tropical storm (70 mph). Sustained winds throughout Greater Houston were around 30-70 mph with higher gusts. I think it was moving around 13 mph, so it moved through the Greater Houston area in ~3 hours. I would guess we saw 30-70 mph sustain winds, with gusts up to 80-90 mph for about 5 hours total. In my area, Cypress, it was mostly 30-45 mph with a few gusts up to 55-60 mph. I think most of Cypress's power was knocked out. I think it's fair to say we didn't expect this level of power outage for this type of storm. But now we should know what to expect going forward. The city can do better (bury more lines or whatever). We should also expect to be "hit" at a higher rate and by stronger storms compared to the past.
Yeah, it's wild out there man. I would say having gratitude is the number one thing on my list and then hopefully the rest of the city gets restored sooner than later.
This thread took an unexpected turn. Centerpoint needs to do a better job - I hope we can all agree. We can and should expect power outages during hurricane season. Still, if we start averaging major power outages more than twice a year, this will take a toll on us mentally and economically.
the real houstonian attitude is coming out. million+ still without power Posters on this forum: GET A GENERATOR YOU MORONS. every single poster with that attitude is going on my ignore list. i do not want to ever read anything from yall again.
I am a proud ass Houstonian, and I spend a lot of time defending this town to people I know that live out of state. It is getting harder and harder to tell them Htown is not a s***hole, when the city comes to a debilitating stop every time mother nature breathes on it. We overcome ugly aesthetics by affordability, nice people, and good food. It's not that affordable anymore and the people are starting to suck (transplants?). The governance is a little embarrassing too. What Whitmire said about the Astros playing was one of the dumbest things I've heard a mayor say out loud. Infrastructure needs a massive improvement, and I'm not just talking about power utilities.
