‘Pray I survive’: CenterPoint customers bracing for days more without power after Hurricane Beryl

As Fifth Ward resident Pat Cole sits on the porch of her home Saturday afternoon, a neighbor strolls past, a towel around his neck to soak up his sweat.

“How are you doing?” the neighbor calls.

“Hot,” Cole answers, without a moment of hesitation.

But the 72-year-old says she’s better off on her porch than inside her sweltering home, which has been without power for six days since Hurricane Beryl pummeled the Houston region Monday. The deadly storm knocked out power to 2.2 million CenterPoint Energy customers and sent water gushing through Cole’s living room ceiling.

As of Saturday afternoon, CenterPoint, the Houston region’s primary energy provider, had returned electricity to nearly 1.7 million customers. But as more homes are brought back online, a smaller share of residents, like Cole, are bracing for their struggles without power to stretch well into next week.

Some neighborhoods will likely not see power restored until Friday, July 19, according to CenterPoint, as systems must be “rebuilt” in areas with the most extensive damage.

Cole’s neighborhood is estimated to stay dark until Wednesday. She’s stopped calling CenterPoint to complain, saying she can’t get through to anyone that will answer her questions.

“Guess there’s nothing to do but pray I survive,” Cole said. “It’s pitiful. People die because of this.”

But still, his wife Maria adds, “It’s exhausting.”

A few streets over, Jack and Rhonda Robertson chipped away cleaning the mess of trees Beryl left in its wake.

Jack wakes up at 5 a.m. each day to sit in the long line at the gas station for fuel. If the couple’s power is out until next Thursday, as CenterPoint predicts, fuel to run his generator will cost him roughly $500.

“I don’t know why it’s taking them so long, with all the people they got over here,” Jack said, gesturing to the line of utility trucks down a nearby street. “Still … They have a process. I know some of them are working 16 hour days.”