How long will the power be out in Houston?

HOUSTON — Thousands of Houston residents declared themselves safe on Facebook after the feature was activated due to last night’s severe storms. On social media platforms, many people are discussing the widespread power outages in Harris County.

During a severe weather briefing, Harris County officials asked residents to stay off the roads hours after the storm, mainly due to debris and traffic signal outages.

According to Houston Mayor John Whitmire, “the signal outages are due to a lack of power in the area.

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On X, KHOU 11 reporter Stephen Goin captured some of the first images of a collapsed transmission structure in Cypress.

The KHOU 11 Verify team reached out to CenterPoint, the area’s largest electricity provider, to ask about the collapsed structure.

How long will it take to repair damaged transmission structures?

It will take weeks to repair damaged power transmission structures.

KHOU 11 energy expert Ed Hirs told the KHOU 11 Verification Team that following a major hurricane, it takes about three weeks for power to return to the Houston area .

In the aftermath of Thursday night’s severe storm, Hirs said: “This storm hit with great intensity, force and such enormous damage that we could see up to three weeks before everything is repaired.”

KHOU 11 reporter Jason Miles spoke with a CenterPoint representative at their staging area near Greenspoint, where CenterPoint confirms the toppling of the towers was due to high winds.

The power company is continuing to restore service to its customers, but CenterPoint does not have an exact number on how many customers get their power from transmission lines.

In a briefing Friday morning, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said 10 transmission lines had been taken out in the area.

Hirs said because these lines were designed to carry a heavier load, tens of thousands of customers could be affected by the toppled towers.

Hirs told the KHOU 11 Verification Team, “We also know that some of these transmission towers have cell phone structures on them, those repeating antennas increase the drift a little bit.” It will take some time for engineers to figure out exactly why they collapsed.

The KHOU 11 fact-finding team contacted cell phone providers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile about the spotty service people were experiencing.

In a statement provided to the KHOU 11 Verification Team, Verizon said, “Due to last night’s severe storms and resulting power outages, some customers in the Greater Houston area may experience interruptions on duty. Verizon is using all available resources to fully restore service. “

T-Mobile directed KHOU 11 to a statement posted on its website alerting customers when conditions are safe to do so, they will bring in “SatCOLT (Satellite Cell on Light Trucks) and SatCOW (Satellite Cell on Wheels) to restore the coverage in areas where repairs might take longer due to the severity of the storm. »

RELATED: AT&T waives overage fees for power outages and storm cleanup in Houston

AT&T announced it will waive data overage charges starting Friday through May 26, in the following zip codes, available by clicking here.