CenterPoint confirms damage to system amid severe storms that tore through Houston area

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Nearly 1 million Houston-area residents were without power as southeast Texas experienced severe thunderstorms and heavy rain.

But after the storms had passed, CenterPoint Energy confirmed to ABC13 that its downtown building and system had been damaged as a result Thursday.

"As the line of severe weather has made its way through our region, it is now safe for our crews to begin assessing damage but can confirm we've experienced significant damage to our system," the power giant wrote in a statement.

This sparks questions about the actual amount of customers affected. However, CenterPoint says restoration efforts have already begun and will ramp up Friday morning as the damage becomes more visible.

"We are committed to restoring power to our customers as safely and as quickly as possible," the company wrote.

An ABC13 Weather Alert Day was in effect through Thursday evening.
According to CenterPoint Energy's outage tracker as of 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, 852,412 customers were without power.

At 6:40 p.m., that number was 477,207 and quickly escalated within the hour.

By 7:30 p.m., the outage tracker reported that 20,338 were restored over a 24-hour period.

By 10:50 p.m. the outage tracker did not populate how many customers were impacted.

The majority of outages reported were in northwest Houston, inside and outside of the I-610 Loop.

If you are traveling in and out of Houston, you can check your flight on the National Airspace System Status.

MORE WEATHER COVERAGE:
Houston-area school and college closings and delays
ABC13 Weather Alert Day: Severe T-Storm Watch issued in SE Texas until 8 p.m.