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.

  • 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.