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Mayor: 2.3 million without power, hundreds of traffic signals out as city presses utility
Summary
Mayor Whitmire said about 2.3 million electricity users were out of service after the storm and that roughly 1,400 traffic signals were not working; officials urged limited night driving and said wastewater systems faced disruptions including a 150,000-gallon release that violated a consent decree.
Mayor Whitmire told reporters that roughly 2,300,000 electricity users were without service after the storm and that electricity restoration is central to public safety. "Electricity is right there as a priority with public safety," he said, and asked Houstonians to limit driving at night until the lights come back on.
The mayor said roughly 1,400 traffic lights were out of order, creating hazardous intersections. Chief Sarabhai said the department had seen a significant increase in crashes tied to dark intersections and that the added officers will help deter crime and address traffic safety while crews work on power restoration. "We did see a spike in crashes...we attribute that directly to it being dark and people can't see," the chief said.
On water and wastewater, Whitmire said the city's drinking-water supply was "secure" but that some wastewater plants had gone offline and some releases occurred. He said "about a 150,000 gallons were released in some of our valves," adding that those releases violated a consent decree tied to past federal requirements and remediation spending.
Officials said they are pressing CenterPoint Energy for improved performance and communication and that the city will hold the utility accountable after an action review. They urged residents to report outages to CenterPoint and to contact law enforcement only for safety emergencies.
