infrastructure

From the Desk of Glenn Hegar:Responding to Hurricane Beryl

July 2024

The Texas Gulf Coast has experienced many storms over the years – storms that have provided valuable lessons to state and local officials working to bolster the coast’s defenses. We can now add Hurricane Beryl to that list. Its deadly and destructive punch proves there’s still much work to be done.

Beryl made landfall about 4 a.m. CDT July 8 near Matagorda as a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of up to 80 mph. As it barreled its way through northeast Texas, it left significant flooding, structural damage to homes and businesses, and millions of Texans without electricity, including my own family in Katy. We were among the more fortunate ones in our area, though: We lost power in the early morning hours that Monday, and it was restored within three days – but not before the Hegar kids got a good laugh out of the image of me speaking lovingly to our smoke detectors while pounding them into silence at 4 a.m. In the meantime, we were able to stay with friends and managed to find fridge and freezer space with others who had power. My heart goes out to those who were less fortunate and had to endure loss of power for weeks in brutal, scorching temperatures. As Gov. Greg Abbott stated bluntly, this is unacceptable.

These events amplify my concerns about the resilience of our electric grid and providers. When a hurricane hits coastal communities, we can expect some households to lose electricity from destructive winds and rain that topple trees onto power lines and damage other equipment. However, such widespread outages in the aftermath of Beryl fall well below our standards as the eighth largest economy in the world, as does the lack of communication with the public about impacted areas. The electric grid has been updated with smart meters specifically to enhance communication, yet it felt as though we were living decades in the past. Electric providers must make improvements.

I’m hopeful the creation of a special Senate committee to focus on hurricane preparedness and response will help fast-track those needed improvements. Until then, my office will continue to serve affected taxpayers by providing filing extensions (more than 500 approved to date) and a comprehensive list of disaster relief resources as they repair their homes and businesses damaged by the hurricane. We are here, at the ready, to help Texans 24/7.

Glenn Hegar