HOUSTON (AP) 鈥� Kimberly Rubit had one priority in mind as Hurricane Beryl this summer: her severely disabled daughter.
The 63-year-old worked nonstop to prevent Mary, 42, from overheating without air conditioning, water or lights after Beryl knocked out power to their home for 10 days. At least during the extended outage.
鈥淚t was miserable,鈥� Rubit said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sick of it.鈥�
Electric grids have buckled more frequently and outages have become longer across the U.S. as the warming atmosphere carries more water and stirs up more destructive storms, according to of government data. In the Pacific Northwest this week, a 鈥� 鈥� caused .
People with disabilities and chronic health conditions are particularly at risk when the power goes out, and many live in homes that lack the weatherizing and backup power supplies needed to better handle high temperatures and cold freezes, or can't pay their electricity bills, said Columbia University sociomedical sciences professor Diana Hernandez, who studies energy instability in U.S. homes.
At any given time, one in three households in the U.S. is "actively trying to avoid a disconnection or contending with the aftermath of it,鈥� Hernandez said.
In Texas, as another winter approaches, people can't shake fears of another blackout like the one during a cold freeze in 2021 that left millions without power for days and killed more than 200 people. Despite efforts to create more resilience, a winter storm that powerful could still lead to rolling blackouts, according to ERCOT, which manages most of the state's power grid.
Beryl also knocked out power to millions for days, sickening many in the sweltering July heat. Local and state officials showered criticism on CenterPoint Energy, Houston鈥檚 power utility, saying it should have communicated more clearly, taken more preventive measures such as tree trimming before the storm hit and more quickly. The utility's response remains .
CenterPoint says it is focused now on improving resiliency, customer communications and community partnerships with the : 鈥渢o build the most resilient coastal grid in the country that can better withstand the extreme weather of the future.鈥�
Texas lawmakers, meanwhile, are debating whether assisted living facilities need more regulation. One suggestion: requiring them to have enough emergency generator fuel to power lifesaving equipment and keep indoor temperatures safe during an extended blackout, as .
The legislative panel also reviewed emergency responses this month. Regulated facilities and nursing centers fared better than places such as senior communities that aren't subject to strict oversight, according to city and state officials. This meant hundreds of apartment complexes catering to older adults, as well as private homes, were likely more susceptible to losing power and going without food.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to find a way to mark these facilities or get it entered into the computer dispatch systems,鈥� said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. 鈥淭here are so many places in our own city that we have no idea until that 911 call comes in to that facility,鈥� he said.
Texas energy companies have been required since 2003 to provide advance notice of scheduled outages to medically vulnerable households that submit a form with physician approval. But that law didn't require the utilities to share these lists with state or local emergency management agencies.
Numerous states have similar regulatory requirements and 38 have policies aimed at preventing disconnections during , according to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In Colorado, medically vulnerable residents are protected from disconnection for up to 90 days. In Arkansas, utilities can鈥檛 disconnect power to people who are 65 or older if temperatures are forecast to reach above 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius).
In Houston, Rubit and her daughter share one of the roughly 3,000 households where unreliable power can quickly spiral into a life-and-death issue because at least one person requires a medical device powered by electricity, according to public filings from CenterPoint. The utility offers such households payment plans to keep the electricity on when they fall behind on their bills.
The utility's efforts bring little solace to community members at a Houston living center for seniors, Commons of Grace, where outages have become a haunting facet of life for more than 100 residents, said Belinda Taylor, who runs a nonprofit partnered with the managing company.
鈥淚鈥檓 just frustrated that we didn鈥檛 get the services that we needed,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 ridiculous that we have had to suffer.鈥�
Sharon Burks, who lives at Commons of Grace, said it became unbearable when the power went out. She is 63 and uses a breathing machine for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes shortness of breath. She had to resort to her battery-powered breathing pump, which isn鈥檛 meant to be used for long periods.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 expect anything from CenterPoint," Burks said. "We鈥檙e always the last to get it.鈥�
Nadia Lathan, The Associated Press
