Anger mounts in southeast Texas as crippling power outages and heat turn deadly | CNN
www.cnn.com
Frustrations are mounting across southeast Texas as residents enter a fourth day of crippling power outages and heat, a combination that has proven dangerous – and at times deadly.

Frustrations are mounting across southeast Texas as residents enter a fourth day of crippling power outages and heat, a combination that has proven dangerous – and at times deadly – as some struggle to access food, gas and medical care.

More than 1.3 million homes and businesses across the region are still without power after Beryl slammed into the Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, leaving at least 11 people dead across Texas and Louisiana.

Many residents are sheltering with friends or family who still have power, but many can’t afford to leave their homes, Houston City Councilman Julian Ramirez told CNN. And while countless families have lost food in their warming fridges, many stores are still closed, leaving government offices, food banks, and other public services scrambling to distribute food to underserved areas, he said.

  • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
    213·
    6 months ago

    You’re literally the only person who has had anything productive to say here, so when you say “we,” I’m not sure who you’re referring to. Yes, better grid redundancy would mitigate outages. At the same time, I’d like to see any kind of evidence that Houston has poor grid redundancy compared to any other city of comparable density, or that “profiteering and cost cutting” have played a role.

    My previous point stands that ERCOT and the Texas Interconnect being independent has absolutely nothing to do with this

    • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
      111·
      6 months ago

      Except that the only reason your grid is independent is so they can cut corners on quality and soak you for every penny they can. If they were connected to the rest of the country they’d have to conform to superior codes.

      • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
        111·
        6 months ago

        That’s not “the only reason” though? The Texas grid was created in like the 40s…today’s politics really didn’t apply

        • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
          71·
          6 months ago

          Of course today’s politics apply! Nothing about the 1940s applies to today’s grid. They’ve had 80 years to get your lousy grid up to a modern standard and every year the rest of us have to bail your state out when it inevitably breaks down. They’ve had 80 years to soak you suckers for every last penny they can, but instead of making them fix their hardware and lower prices, you’d rather strut around bragging you could be your own independent country. It doesn’t make y’all look good.

          • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
            211·
            6 months ago

            Uhhh…what bailouts are you talking about? What have you done for us exactly?

            What happened in Houston here was a hurricane knocking down power lines, not a “grid failure.” The complaint is that it’s taking Centerpoint Energy 48-72 hours longer to restore power than they probably could have if they had more effectively prepared.

            It should be noted my utility rates (at my municipal utility, owned by the City of Austin) are really reasonable, well below national averages, so I don’t know how you think I’m being “soaked for every last penny.”

            • lakeeffect@lemmy.world
              1·
              6 months ago

              Power in TX is about .09/kilowatt hour where as in MI it’s .215 during the summer. This is slightly SE of houston in an area not connected to the ERCOT grid. Power was also out for ~4 days for all the reasons you mentioned.