Mary K. Bennett-Hayes has a lot on her plate. Her mom is in at intensive care unit after a “touch with pneumonia,” she’s working on donating one of her kidneys to her daughter, also checking in with her dad at the Leo Daniel Towers, all while trying to get power back to her northwest Houston home.
“If I can’t take care of me first, I can’t take care of them, so I have to make sure I do that,” Bennett-Hayes said.
She just like the near million CenterPoint Energy customers lost power shortly after last Thursday’s storm.
The grandmother and veteran watched the start of the storm on her porch until she saw the wind lift a chair, slamming it across the yard to a fence.
“And within the next 30 minutes the lights started flickering and then they were off,” Bennett-Hayes recalls. “Then, I heard bang like it was tearing the roof off, but it wasn’t tearing the roof off, it was tearing that off my wall.”
She’s referring to the electrical meter box, or weatherhead, as CenterPoint Energy calls it. The box was yanked off the side of her house after a nearby tree fell.
She’s called CenterPoint five times since Thursday and spoken with several representatives all telling her to stay away from the lines. She’s also watched line crews working on her street, restoring power to her neighbors except her own.
“Just because my power is on the ground, you’re not going to stop and help me at all?” Bennett-Hayes said. “It looks like something you would rather avoid instead of facing head-on and trying to get it fixed.”
CenterPoint isn’t ignoring her, but there’s not much they can do until Bennett-Hayes replaces the down electrical box.
“That’s where our infrastructure meets your infrastructure,” said Michelle Hundley with CenterPoint Energy during a Tuesday news conference. “So, if that is damaged, even though the community is electrified, you will not receive electricity. You need to make sure and have an electrician come out and look at it and fix it.”
“The customer is responsible for repairs if there is damage to the meter box or weatherhead—the point where the line enters the home through a pipe,” said a CenterPoint chart. “If the meter box or weatherhead is damaged, the customer will need to have their equipment repaired before service can be restored. If in doubt, homeowners should contact a licensed electrician to make an inspection and any necessary repairs.”
“I can’t afford to get that fixed. So, I have to do something. I don’t know what,” said Bennett-Hayes. She adds she’s on a fixed income so immediately replacing the meter box isn’t an option. “Not right now because on my military retirement, it’s only half of it that I get a month. I don’t have the funds to do that if I have to have an electrician. I’m hoping FEMA can go ahead and help me out, if that’s something they can do.”
The state’s Department of Licensing and Regulation stresses homeowners need to hire licensed electricians.
“Anyone performing, or offering to perform, electrical work in Texas must be licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) and perform that work through an electrical contractor licensed by TDLR,” said in a press release. “Make sure that the contractor has gotten any required electrical permit through the city or county before any work begins, and never pay upfront for all the work you’ve agreed to have done.”
The agency directing people to their website to check whether an electrician has necessary certifications.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell says more than 48,000 people in the declared disaster counties have applied for assistance with more than $1 million given out.
The administrator said the agency’s disaster survivor assistant teams are on the ground in impacted areas going door-to-door helping people apply for assistance.
“The first step is people need to register and then we can start the process,” Administrator Criswell said. “Some of it might be incremental. Some of it might depend on how much the insurance company is willing to pay. But we need them to start the process.”
Bennett-Hayes said at last check her FEMA assistance status is unknown.
“I can’t afford to get that fixed,” Bennett-Hayes said. “I can live in the dark a little while longer until FEMA gets to me.”