New study shows nearly everyone in Harris County lost power between Derecho and Hurricane Beryl

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- If you lost power during last year's severe storms, know you most likely weren't alone.

A new report shows nearly all Harris County neighbors lost power. It wasn't just electricity, but food and wages.

It is a situation that local leaders say can't happen again. Neighbors don't want to experience it again either.

Alyssa Brickey doesn't need to see a new report on last year's storms to know how trying they were.

"It was difficult having ten people and four dogs in one hour running off of one generator and trying to keep that generator going," Brickey recalled.

The Katy woman lost power for days, and food in the freezer. A situation she fears will be repeated.

"They've had years to fix the problem, and we've seen it happen again, and I don't really see much happening," Brickey said.

A new Kinder Institute for Urban Research study found more than 90% of Harris County neighbors lost power from the windstorm in May and Hurricane Beryl in July. More than 30% had no power for more than two days. Because of it, 80% had to throw away food and more than half lost money because they couldn't work.

Researchers said the data revealed how Houstonians are demanding change.

"They were a little bit tired having to be so strong and I think that's reflective as a community when you're getting hit and pummeled over and over again," Kinder Institute for Urban Research Houston population research director Daniel Potter explained. "It wears you down."

After millions were left in the dark, it wasn't just neighbors demanding change. Local leaders, including State Representative Ron Reynolds was critical of CenterPoint.

"That is why we can't have this again on our watch," Reynolds said. "That was a painful lesson for CenterPoint and the state and others are doing their part to hold CenterPoint accountable so that it doesn't happen again."

CenterPoint developed a resiliency plan. On Friday, it was in Fort Bend County, highlighting some of it. The company donated two generators to power shelters. They've also installed more than 14,000 stronger poles, cleared 2200 miles of vegetation and added 280 miles of underground powerlines.

"Outages are going to occur based on the severity of the storm, but again, what we are committed is to making sure that our customers, one that we have fewer customers that are experiencing the outages," CenterPoint spokesperson Alyssia Oshodi explained. "That will happen. Two, those that are out will be out for a lesser amount of time than past storms."

CenterPoint said it's more than halfway through making many of its improvements. The company said it's on track to have them all upgraded by the start of hurricane season.

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