POWER OUTAGES

CenterPoint is reporting a total of 49,065 are without power Wednesday due to thunderstorms across the Houston area.

CenterPoint Energy is stepping up to help support the people of Louisiana that have lost power due to what is now Tropical Storm Ida.

Hundreds of thousands of customers are without power as Hurricane Nicholas rolls through the Houston area.

For those who rely on machines to live, losing electricity can be an emergency situation. That registry lets local government and electrical providers know if there is a critical power need at a home. Senator Kolkhorst explains why that just wouldn’t work. “We have to make these changes and I just want everyone listening to know - it starts with a reliable grid,” Senator Kolkhorst said. There are more than 75 bills related to electricity filed and up for discussion… including one from Senator Kolkhorst related to electric rate charges.

HOUSTON – The nonprofit “Kids’ Meals” has been fighting hunger in Houston since 2016 providing free, healthy meals to preschool-aged children who live in extreme poverty. Beth Harp, executive director with Kids’ Meals, Inc., explained how the community can help them restock to aid those in dire need. Kids' Meals, Inc. (Kids' Meals, Inc.)Kids’ Meals lost all meat, cheese, milk, juice, and much of its bread and need help to resume delivery of 6,400 meals on Monday. We have been desperately trying to get the word out and raise funds in order to get new food supplies. You can donate here: https://www.giveffect.com/checkout/4136 Posted by Kids' Meals, Inc. on Thursday, February 18, 2021To donate or volunteer to Kids’ Meals, click here.

KATY, Texas – The Buc-ee’s in Katy was a popular site Wednesday night with people from across southeast Texas looking for gas. We’re just trying to scavenge around to see who has food.”This week’s storm has also created a shortage of gas. Patrick De Haan with Gas Buddy, a crowd-sharing app that helps people find the cheapest gas, said right now fuel tankers are only making 10% of their normal deliveries. Plus, the storm knocked 20% of the nation’s refineries offline, including nearly a dozen in Texas. Ad“This is an impact that is going to be the worst in the South, Texas across the region,” said DeHaan.

Keep in mind, Centerpoint does not create or generate electricity, all they do is take the electricity and pass it on to customers. That was when Centerpoint started moving around electricity for certain customers. So some customers will see their power back on during the middle of the night,” he added. Mercado said Centerpoint was making good headway getting power back on to customers, but the company hit a new roadblock early Tuesday morning. Mercado said as power plants that are owned by third parties come online, they have to ramp up slowly before being at full power.

8:50 a.m. -- Nearly all CenterPoint Energy Customers with power, utilities company saysAt the peak of the power outage emergency, approximately 1.4 million total CenterPoint Energy customers were impacted. 1:27 a.m. - CenterPoint Energy reports less than 200,000 customers without powerAs of early Thursday morning, CenterPoint Energy is now reporting 163,138 customers without power. 10:27 p.m. -- Number of CenterPoint customers without power drops below 1 millionAs of this post, CenterPoint is reporting nearly 675,000 customers without power. #houwx #hounews 2/10 — CenterPoint Energy (@CNPalerts) February 15, 2021As CenterPoint Energy made preparations to follow @ERCOT_ISO's directive to reduce load, we were anticipating outages of 15 minutes to more than an hour. As a result, immediately following ERCOT’s directive to curtail delivery of power to customers, CenterPoint Energy started controlled outages in its service territory.

HOUSTON – Multiple Houston-area school districts will be closed Friday due to the ongoing brownouts in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. RELATED: Some Houston-area residents to experience periodic power outages due to Hurricane LauraEntergy announced the outages to its Texas customers Thursday after its transmission system suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Laura. These are the closures so far:

HOUSTON – Texans, along with Houston-area residents, experienced power outages due to Hurricane Laura’s impact. According to Entergy, the power has since been restored for most Houston-area residents. Entergy announced the outages to its Texas customers Thursday after its transmission system suffered extensive damage from the hurricane. The current transmission line issue that has caused our power outages has been located and is in the process of repairs. Here were some suggested ways Entergy customers could reduce their electricity usage:Raise the central air conditioner thermostat to 78 degrees.

HOUSTON – Power outages are a big concern for many residents when severe weather strikes, especially if you have a medical condition. According to the Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel, most utility companies keep a list of critical care and chronic condition consumers. Being on this list does not guarantee your power will be restored immediately, but emergency services workers can access this list to see who may need immediate attention. Many outage situations involve a large number of homes and people, it may take an extended amount of time for utility or emergency services workers to get to your area. If losing power means a life or death situation for you, it’s best to evacuate.

Hurricane season is upon us. And really, as is the case with any major storm, winds and heavy rainfall have the power to create some pretty massive power outages. Are you, or would you, consider yourself stocked up at home, in the event of an emergency? Take the quiz below to find out. All of the checklist items are listed on ready.gov as what you’ll need in your basic disaster supplies kit, as well as some additional emergency supplies that the website recommended.