HOUSTON, TX (Covering Katy News)—A massive influx of line crews, numbering in the hundreds, is converging on Houston from various locations such as New Mexico, San Antonio, and Austin to help CenterPoint Energy restore power after a tornado destroyed transmission lines in Cypress and high winds caused damage across the Houston region.
Thursday’s severe storms swept through the Greater Houston area, with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour.
"CenterPoint is mobilizing all available resources, as well as mutual assistance resources from nearby utility companies, to continue quickly and safely restoring power to customers," the company said on Friday night.
Line crews traveling from the south along I-69 will utilize the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds in Rosenberg as a staging area.
"We'll have about 500 trucks at the Fair Grounds," said Greg Babst, emergency management coordinator for Fort Bend County.
A team from Austin Energy will leave at 6 a.m. on Saturday, May 18, with bucket trucks and support vehicles.
"The team is prepared to provide help for up to two weeks," an Austin Energy statement said.
CenterPoint Energy sent mutual aid crews to Austin after the 2023 ice storm.
"Providing mutual aid in natural disasters is a tradition among public utilities, and this will offer tremendous training opportunities for our crews," said Elton Richards, Austin Energy Vice President of Electric System Field Operations.
Help is also coming from the northwest part of Texas.
"Stay strong, Houston – help is on the way," said a statement from Texas-New Mexico Power. "Our North Texas linemen are heading down to Houston to provide mutual assistance to our counterparts at CenterPoint."