Almost two weeks after Beryl hit, heat-related deaths during the prolonged power outages have pushed the number of storm-related fatalities to at least 23 in Texas.

The combination of searing summer heat and residents unable to power up air conditioning in the days after the Category 1 storm made landfall on July 8 resulted in increasingly dangerous conditions for some in America’s fourth-largest city.

Beryl knocked out electricity to nearly 3 million homes and businesses at the height of the outages, which lasted days or much longer, and hospitals reported a spike in heat-related illnesses.

Power finally was restored to most by last week, after over a week of widespread outages. The slow pace in the Houston area put the region’s electric provider, CenterPoint Energy, under mounting scrutiny over whether it was sufficiently prepared.

  • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    one thing did not see in the article is what consequences CenterPoint Energy will face

    if an average citizen on the street were on his 23rd killing don’t think anyone would say they are under mounting scrutiny

    • Zachariah@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      They should be taken over by the state completely and turned into a public utility with the purpose of reliably instead of profit. Being a heavily regulated private company is the worse of both worlds.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        They should be taken over by the state completely and turned into a public utility with the purpose of reliably instead of profit.

        This is in Texas. You’ve heard of Texas before, right?

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        This is what Republicans want to do with everything.

        They want private weather reports for fucks sake.

    • BigFig@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      What consequences the STATE will face. The grid is owned and regulated by ERCOT, Center point and other energy companies are contracted to maintain and repair the grid but they don’t own it.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      4 months ago

      I dunno. A lot of Western nations seem to still have problems with male serial killers who target BIPOC and trans women, ie: the cops completely ignore the signs.