Spring senior apartment complex gets power restored days after storm
SPRING, Texas (KTRK) -- Power was restored Saturday morning to a senior living apartment complex that left residents struggling with extreme heat.
Wednesday's severe weather knocked power out, and residents reached out to Action 13 when they couldn't get information from apartment managers or CenterPoint Energy.
Several residents described the conditions at Augusta Woods in Spring as horrible ever since Wednesday night's severe weather left their complex without power until Saturday morning.
SEE ALSO: Houston areas may not see power restored until Sunday: CenterPoint
"I believe it flickered, and then it went. It just- no lights," Didi Bradford told ABC13 on Friday.
That also meant no air. It created dangerous conditions for anyone, especially for this community of adults 55 years old and up.
"It's really difficult because she's on the fourth floor, and she's 89," Mary Mergenhagen, whose mother-in-law resides at Augusta Woods, said.
The mother-in-law stayed with the family until power was restored Saturday, but it wasn't easy getting her there.
"During this episode, I had to bring her down the stairs at night with a cell phone light," Mergenhagen said. "There was no generator to provide emergency lighting or anything."
"We have people over 80 (years old). We have people who are in wheelchairs. We have people on oxygen, and we didn't see any management until today," Bradford added.
Eyewitness News found one maintenance worker at the complex who said a generator was on the way. He asked ABC13 to leave the property, and management has not responded to attempts to contact them.
The fire department also went door to door, checking on residents who couldn't make it down without the elevator or who had nowhere else to go.
"I have no plan. I have to deal with it," Bradford said.
Before power was restored, linesmen with CenterPoint were working on the lines nearby Friday evening.
A spokesperson said they were making progress.
"We've had our crews working around the clock, rotating in and out, to continue this restoration. By the end of the day (Friday), we will have the majority of those out back on," Alyssia Oshodi, of CenterPoint Energy, said.
As of Saturday morning, more than 17,000 CenterPoint customers across the Houston area were still without power. Going on day three now, ABC13 asked CenterPoint Energy why this time around it's taking longer than usual.
The power company said the storm that blew through Wednesday took a toll on their equipment.
"The damage we've been seeing is across the board so poles down, wires down, trees on lines, and so we have to clear those trees. We have to get those wires and poles back up and it just takes significant time to do that clearing and then make those repairs," Alyssia Oshodi, Director of Communications for Centerpoint Energy, said.
RELATED: Formerly-homeless mother out hundreds of dollars in groceries after Wednesday storms cut power
