HOUSTON, TX (Covering Katy News) – CenterPoint Energy expects Storm-related power restorations to be substantially completed by the end of the day Wednesday, May 22, and Covering Katy News was in Cypress Saturday watching crews repairing damage to numerous high voltage electric towers collapsed by a May 16 tornado. The transmission lines are the backbone of CenterPoint's system for moving energy from generation point to its customers.
"As the Houston area and surrounding communities recover from the devastating storm on May 16, CenterPoint Energy remains focused on restoring all impacted customers as safely and as quickly as possible," a Center Point press release said. "The company anticipates that approximately 80% of impacted customers will be restored by Sunday evening."
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Crews working in the Cypress area on Saturday where a tornado took down numerous high-voltage power lines.
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The repair site in the Cypress area is so muddy that special vehicles, like this one, are needed to transport repair crews.
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Numerous truck were along a portion of Highway 99 near West Road helping power restoration efforts. This photo shows a few of them.
CenterPoint customers expected to be without power into early next week will receive targeted Power Alert Service restoration updates and a map detailing estimated restoration times.
"More than 550,000 customers, or nearly 60% of the peak outage count, were restored in the initial 48 hours of storm response," CenterPoint said.
Saturday night, CenterPoint utilized its Power Alert Service (PAS) tool to begin targeted restoration updates with customers who are expected to be without power into early next week.
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A recent tornado took down numerous power distribution towers in the Cypress area. These are some of them.
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High winds knocked down a wall at this Cypress area house and left at least two windows damaged.
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Power transmission towers in the Cypress area toppled by a tornado.
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Numerous street signs in the Cypress area were knocked down by heavy winds.
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A power transmission tower knocked over by a tornado in the Cypress area.
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One of the trucks being used to restore electricity.
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Numerous trampolines were tossed from resident's back yards in the Cypress area, some landing hundreds of yards away.
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Heavy winds damaged homes, street signs and light poles in this Cypress area neighborhood.
"If customers are able to do so, they should sign up for PAS at CenterPointEnergy.com/PowerAlertService," the company said.
For customers without power, a map of estimated restoration times can be found at CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter.
"CenterPoint Energy will continue to work day and night to restore service to our impacted customers," said Lynnae Wilson, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. "We understand the higher temperatures we are experiencing across Houston and surrounding communities make getting the lights and air conditioning back on even more important. Our customers should know that we appreciate their continued patience. Getting our jobs done as safely and quickly as possible is our top priority."
Restoration efforts include ensuring there is service to public safety, health, and welfare facilities, such as hospitals, police and fire department locations, and water treatment plants. CenterPoint is also conducting damage assessments to determine the impacts on its system and implementing a comprehensive restoration work plan.
The company deployed 700 damage assessors into the field to survey more than 490 distribution circuits containing 7,147 overhead circuit miles; flew a helicopter along the path of the storm to inspect more than 110 miles of aerial transmission lines covering more than 1,440 acres; identified and prioritized where major power lines and fuses can be safely repaired to restore power to the greatest number of customers possible in the least amount of time.
CenterPoint set up nine staging sites across the city. More than 2,000 employees and over 5,000 contractors, including additional line-workers and vegetation management professionals participating through mutual assistance, are actively working throughout the territory.
CenterPoint is using six temporary mobile generation units to serve two cooling centers, two first responder locations, a hospital, and a senior living facility.
Customers can find up-to-date outage information at www.CenterPointEnergy.com/OutageCenter.