Major power outages continue in Texas after severe storm

Over 360,000 customers remain without power in Texas May 19, after the state was hit by severe storms, according to estimates from Poweroutage.us.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm over 1 million customers in Texas had no power. A major storm hit the area May 16. The Houston Chronicle reported that at least 7 people had died as a result of the bad weather.

A further 6,934 customers are without power in Louisiana May 19. CenterPoint Energy said May 18 that it expects approximately 80% of outages in Houston and the surrounding area to be restored by the May 19 evening.

Recovery work may be disrupted by forecasts of record high temperatures over the next few days. The US National Weather Service said that temperatures could soar into the 100s F in parts of Texas.

The storm cut service to almost 922,000 CenterPoint Energy at the peak of outages, the company said as of May 17. By early May 19, the company's outage overview showed 351,855 customers affected and service restored to 252,149 customers in the previous 24 hours. The company expects to have restorations "substantially complete" to customers who are available to receive service by the end of May 22

CenterPoint Energy spokesman Joshua Solis previously confirmed that its CenterPoint Energy Tower in downtown Houston "sustained damage."

"We do anticipate that petrochemical and refineries, like many businesses in the greater Houston area, have been affected by power outages," he said.

The Houston metro area has the world's largest medical complex in addition to the US' largest concentration of petrochemical facilities. Solis said CenterPoint prioritizes restoring service to "facilities vital to safety, health and welfare, such as hospitals, water treatment plants and public service facilities" before other structures.

AccuWeather on May 17 estimated the total damage and economic loss for the Houston metro area to be in the range of $5 billion to $7 billion, the downtown damage "similar to wind impacts from hurricanes Ike and Alicia."