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Austin Energy crews helping Houston
Efforts continue as utilities crews work to restore power to over a million people after hurricane Beryl plowed through Houston. These crews include line workers from Austin Energy.
TEXAS - Efforts continue as utility crews work to restore power to over a million people after Hurricane Beryl plowed through Houston. These crews include line workers from Austin Energy.
"It's a huge job. Houston is a massive metropolitan area and the destruction from hurricane Beryl is widespread," said Matt Mitchell, Public Information Officer with Austin Energy.
This has been a team effort after CenterPoint Energy, the utility in Houston, put out a call for mutual aid for surrounding areas to help.
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Cleanup & recovery efforts after Beryl
President Biden granted a request for a federal emergency disaster declaration in response to Hurricane Beryl. That action will help pay for some debris removal and the installation of protective measures in areas hit hard by the storm.
Currently, Austin Energy has a crew of 20 line workers down in Houston working to restore power.
"We were very happy to respond. We provide mutual aid after natural disasters, both in our state and sometimes as far away as Florida or Arizona," said Mitchell.
Photos show Austin Energy line workers hard at work on Huffsmith Road in Houston on Wednesday working to fix a downed powerline for the 1,000 customers on that particular circuit without power.
Mitchell says their workers are slated to be there for a week, but it could be longer.
"It looks as though this restoration process is going to take some time, so that's really up to CenterPoint for how long they wish to have those mutual aid crews in town," he said.
This has not been an easy job. Mitchell says the amount of damage mixed with the hot weather has proved to be a challenge.
In the end, Mitchell says the workers do this to help and are working as fast as they can to restore energy to Houston.
"These are men and women that feel a calling to do this kind of work and are doing this work selflessly to help out the community in Houston," he said.