Restoring Power Outages: image sourced from the Houson Chronicle (Raquel Natalicchio, staff photographer).
Texas is no stranger to tropical storms and hurricanes, yet Beryl brought about unprecedented, early seasonal challenges. On Monday, July 8th, Hurricane Beryl made landfall about one hundred miles southwest of Houston, near Matagorda. Many counties issued voluntary evacuation orders, but unfortunately, eight residents were still killed. Three days later, as temperatures hover in the upper 90s or higher, millions are still without power, and the heat dome may compound the crisis.
Hurricane season typically begins in mid-August and peaks in September. With its early arrival, Beryl coincides with the summer heat and further exacerbates the already problematic conditions present in Houston. The Houston Chronicle reported that 1 million residents remain without power and with a looming heatwave due to set in, conditions will only worsen. Beyond the heightened threats from heatwaves, power outages bring about a series of risks to those affected: falling behind on work, general inconveniences of living in the dark, and more seriously, further health threats to those who rely on power to supply life-sustaining services. Such pressures can also hinder the success of a community following a disaster.
From a resilience perspective, Houston was underprepared to bear the challenges posed by Hurricane Beryl. Both local governance and CenterPoint Energy, the leading regional power company, did not have the infrastructure in place to support the aftermath of the storm. Notably, some of CenterPoint Energy’s customer support systems were reported to be down even before the storm hit landfall. Even with CenterPoint Energy’s support system in place, Houston would have still faced the same problems as the company serves as the primary energy supplier. Because of its dependence on CenterPoint Energy, Houston was bound to struggle as just one critical hit to the supplier would cause the whole system to go down–which is exactly what happened.
To avoid such widespread power-outages in the future, Houston needs to diversify its power supply. Currently, many homeowners, small businesses, and critical infrastructures are increasing their reliance on generators as a short-term solution. Yet, this approach is simply unsustainable; it provides a band-aid approach that leaves people who cannot afford these measures even more vulnerable to follow-on challenges like the current heat wave. Houston, and other communities in the impact area, should take this recovery period to develop policies and investments that reduce dependency on any single critical infrastructure service provider. The diversification and allocation of resources spread the burden placed on any given supply. The idea of diversification is not a novel idea, rather, a scalable concept that can be applied to both energy providers and other resource management frameworks.
Beryl’s impact and early arrival could serve as a warning of what is to come. Though natural disasters cannot be avoided, they can be mitigated. However, if the status quo remains unchanged, current vulnerabilities and weaknesses may be exploited, and new ones will appear. This highlights the importance of continually improving resilience strategies alongside responsible environmental stewardship. Communities should include ongoing investments in adaptive infrastructure as part of a strategy for promoting safety and protection despite the unknown challenges that continuing environmental changes may bring. Additionally, well-designed proactive measures that incorporate environmental considerations should also promote both sustainable growth and enhanced quality of life benefits. In so doing, communities will not only reduce their future vulnerabilities, but they may also reap significant benefits.
Hurricane Beryl should serve as catalyst for change; communities should continue to improve resilience by promoting preparedness before catastrophe strikes. Diversifying resources is one way in which communities can foster resilience in the face of change. Beyond this, investing in environmental research can lead to creating a more resilient infrastructure, working with the natural world rather than against it. In doing this, communities have the opportunity to “future proof” themselves by building structures and systems that support consistency despite environmental volatility.
For additional information:
· Houston Chronicle Updates: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/hurricane-beryl-power-updates-houston-heat-19566015.php
· CenterPoint Energy Updates: https://www.centerpointenergy.com/en-us/corporate/about-us/news/1779 ; https://www.centerpointenergy.com/en-us/corporate/about-us/news/1772
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