HURRICANE BERYL TAKES ITS TOLL ON COLORADO COUNTY

Hurricane season just saw its first entry into the mainland as Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas at around 4 a.m. on Monday, July 8.

Hurricane Beryl was tracked as the first category 5 hurricane of the season as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean, hitting Jamaica, Puerto Rico and other Atlantic islands with strong winds and heavy rains. It set a record for being the earliest category 5 hurricane, beating 2005’s Hurricane Emily by 15 days.

Beryl’s power dropped as it reached the mainland, falling to a category 1 storm as it made contact with Matagorda Bay. The storm’s initial impact saw areas South of Houston and Houston see winds of around 75 mph and a predicted rainfall of five to 10 inches. The fallout from the storm still took its toll on Texans as the state reports around 2.7 million residents losing electricity in power outages Power lines knocked over by strong winds and falling trees broke the connections between energy suppliers and residences.

The San Bernard Electric Cooperative has been updating the county of its power restoration progress through its Facebook page. They initially reported over 13,700 meters of power outages after the storm before confirming over 16,000 meters of failing power lines. As of Tuesday morning, SBEC had restored about 12,000 meters in the counties Waller, Grimes, Montgomery, Austin and Colorado.

CenterPoint and AEP have also been steadily returning power to homes following the storm. In a press release, CenterPoint predicted that they would restore 1 million impacted customers by the end of the day on Wednesday, July 10. In the update, Senior Vice President Lynnae Wilson gave a statement regarding the impact of the storm on their service area. “While we tracked the projected path, intensity and timing for Hurricane Beryl closely for many days, this storm proved the unpredictability of hurricanes as it delivered a powerful blow across our service territory and impacted a lot of lives,” Wilson said, “We know we have important work ahead for our customers who depend on us, especially during the hot summer months.”

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