CNN
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Life-threatening heat is gripping southeast Texas, with nearly 2 million homes and businesses still without power and air conditioning issues following the landfall of deadly and destructive storm Beryl.
It is expected to take days, possibly weeks, to restore power across the region after Beryl pounded the state on Monday, flooding coastal communities, destroying homes and downing the power grid.
About 1.7 million homes and businesses in southeast Texas remain without power, mainly from Galveston to north Houston, turning homes into saunas and leaving food to languish in hot refrigerators, according to PowerOutage.us. Phone and internet connections have also been cut in some areas, including Galveston.
“There’s no WiFi, no electricity and it’s hot outside. It’s dangerous for people. It’s a really big problem,” resident Robin Taylor told The Associated Press. “People are going to die in their homes from this heat.”
Beryl has been blamed for at least 10 deaths in Texas and Louisiana, mostly from falling trees, but Texas emergency officials said two deaths in Houston’s Harris County were due to carbon monoxide poisoning, leading to warnings about the dangers of using generators in areas where families live and sleep.
Cooling centers have been opened across the region as temperatures approach the 90s and the heat index in some areas could reach 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat index, which measures how the body feels in both heat and humidity, will reach triple digits in some areas for a second consecutive day.
Prolonged heat exposure poses a significant health risk to people without proper cooling and can be particularly dangerous for Texans working outdoors clearing debris and damaged infrastructure. Heatstroke also poses a significant risk to seniors, people with chronic illnesses, homeless people and children.
Houston hospitals are at risk of overcrowding because they can’t transport patients home due to power outages, so city officials are providing extra beds in sports stadiums, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Tuesday.
Long lines of cars and residents snaked out of fast-food restaurants, food trucks and gas stations hoping to get a few minutes of cool air and a snack, according to the Associated Press. Dwight Yell, 54, had electricity at home but took a disabled neighbor who didn’t have power to a Denny’s for a meal, the AP reported.
Patrick said he stressed the importance of restoring power as quickly as possible to CenterPoint Energy, the utility with the most outages in the region, which estimates about 80% of its Houston customers are without power.
“It’s hard being out in the heat, it’s hard not being able to keep anything refrigerated, not being able to go out and get food,” Patrick said. “I’ve let CenterPoint know and asked them to do everything they can to get power back on as quickly as possible.”
But CenterPoint officials say it could take several days for power to be fully restored to customers, but they hope to restore service to 1 million customers by Wednesday evening. As of Wednesday morning, more than 1.3 million customers were still without power.
President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency disaster declaration to help with some of the recovery costs, including debris removal, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office announced.
But before long-term recovery efforts can begin, many frustrated residents are struggling with how to address their immediate needs.
“It’s devastating to lose everything in your fridge and run out of money before payday,” Harris County Commissioner Leslie Briones told The Associated Press.
Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images
A home in Surfside Beach, Texas, was destroyed by Hurricane Beryl on July 8.
Beryl has weakened considerably since striking Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, but its remnants still pose a threat of severe flooding and tornadoes as it slams into the Ohio Valley and Northeast on Wednesday.
“On Wednesday, Beryl will track northeastward from Ohio to Ontario, bringing increased rainfall from upstate New York into New England,” the National Weather Service said.
More than 20 million people are under flood watches in parts of the Midwest and Northeast, with watches starting to expire by the end of the day in the Midwest but continuing into Thursday morning in New England.
Heavy rain and tornadoes are possible across the Northeast, with the greatest tornado threat stretching from northern Pennsylvania into southern New Hampshire and Vermont, including Syracuse and Albany, New York, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Beryl spawned more than a dozen tornadoes in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana on Monday and two in Indiana and Kentucky on Tuesday. The National Weather Service in Shreveport, Louisiana, issued 67 tornado warnings on Monday, the most warnings the service has ever issued in a single day.
Heat warnings affect more than 130 million Americans on both coasts, but the heatwaves are still hitting the West, with parts of the country facing extreme temperatures for at least two weeks.
Extremely dangerous heat has killed several people in the West and is expected to continue into Friday in the region, with temperatures reaching 10 to 30 degrees above average in some areas, with some areas reaching over 100 degrees.
Death Valley, California, has recorded temperatures above 125 degrees Fahrenheit every day since the Fourth of July, and the record is expected to continue through Friday, marking the second-longest streak of temperatures above 125 degrees in the state behind 10 days in July 1913. In Nevada, Las Vegas recorded 119 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, setting a new daily record for the fourth consecutive day.
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“Multidays of heat and record nighttime temperatures will lead to continued heat stress without proper cooling and hydration,” the National Weather Service warned.
Human-caused climate change is making heatwaves around the world much more frequent and intense, exposing communities to increasingly dangerous temperatures. Prolonged exposure to heat and the inability to cool the body puts people at risk of damage to the brain and other vital organs, as well as heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses, including stroke.
NWS Houston advises residents to limit outdoor activities, work early in the morning or late at night, wear light clothing and sunscreen, and check on loved ones, neighbors and pets.
CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Joe Sutton, Sarah Dewberry and Fabiana Chaparro contributed to this report.
