Beryl impacts Baytown clinic serving kids with autism, leaving them without therapy

BAYTOWN, Texas (KTRK) -- It's been 15 days since Hurricane Beryl hit, and some are still struggling without power.

Elite Spectrum ABA is a clinic that specializes in therapy for kids diagnosed with autism. The clinic has been in the dark, leaving families scrambling and employees without paychecks.

The floors inside are now buckling from the heat.

"You have a heart for this, and right now, my hands are tied," co-owner Lakeshia Wells said. "There's nothing I can do."

Fifteen families are going without therapy.

The children, aged between two and 15, all have autism, with some being nonverbal.

"They need that routine that they set. That's important to them," Wells said. "When that routine is thrown off, we start seeing more behaviors that we probably wouldn't see or that we started to work on and we weren't seeing."

The clinic's 12 employees haven't been paid.

"We look them in the eye, and we say, 'We're going to provide a job for you,' and now it's like, 'We don't have power,'" co-owner Tamara Alexander said.

"We were all calling CenterPoint, and they kept saying that the ticket was closed. What do you mean? We don't have power. They kept trying to say that we did have power," Wells said.

Last week, crews showed up to fix the damage, but on Monday, CenterPoint officials say repairs are not done, so power can't be restored yet.

It's a problem people are facing all over southeast Texas.

When you have damage to the point where power enters your building, you must get a licensed electrician to fix it. Then, you have to apply for a permit from the city before power can be restored.

The process can be lengthy, and the business owners say the property owners aren't calling them back with answers.

ABC13's calls also went unanswered.

"It kind of feels like we're in the pandemic without COVID going on," Alexander said. "We're completely shut down and there's nothing that we can do."

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