As storms clip and batter Hawaii and Texas, utilities prioritize relief

Separate hurricanes have trained their eyes on Texas and Hawaii alike, leaving two very different segments of the country and their utilities grappling with troubles exacerbated by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“EEI’s member companies in the path of Hurricanes Hanna and Douglas have activated their emergency response plans to make sure that they are ready to restore power to customers safely and as quickly as possible,” Scott Aaronson, Edison Electric Institute vice president of security & preparedness, said. “Given that we are in the midst of a pandemic, our industry has implemented new COVID-19 protocols to keep our customers and our crews safe, and we ask for our customers’ patience as these additional safety steps may slow some restoration tasks. We know electricity is especially important right now, and our entire industry stands ready to support the impacted companies if needed.”

In Texas, the culprit was Hurricane Hanna, a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall. As of today, the storm has weakened to a tropical depression, but it hit the Gulf Coast of southern Texas over the weekend, deluging the area with rain and flooding. Gov. Greg Abbott said the situation was made more challenging by the fact that it’s the area of the state most challenged already by COVID-19. A disaster declaration was made for 32 counties.

In response, AEP Texas dispatched crews to restore electricity to customers left without power. By Sunday, around 2,350 resources were deployed and restored electricity to more than 67 percent of those affected. That said, the flooding has limited access to substations and other equipment in certain areas, delaying efforts. Crews are doing their best to maintain mask and social distancing guidelines while dealing with the crisis.

Today, the utility reported that 65,400 customers were still without power in the Corpus Christi, Laredo and Rio Grande Valley districts. The bulk of these outages remain within the Rio Grande Valley. For context, though, that 65,400 is all that remains of a peak 200,000 people without power early Sunday.

Pivoting to Hawaii, the state was targeted by Hurricane Douglas over the weekend. It could have become only the third hurricane in modern history to hit the state, but the worst of it only skirted the island chain. Though it lashed the area with rain and wind over the weekend, its eyewall tracked just north of Maui and Oahu.

Hurricane warnings were put into effect for Maui, Oahu and Kauai County, but these were downgraded (in Kauai) or cancelled outright as the storm moved on. Before the storm hit, Hawaiian Electric warned customers of the likelihood of power outages, but advised that it would move workers and equipment as needed. The company monitored the storm’s movement, but noted it would only dispatch repair crews after the storm had passed or safe conditions prevailed. Damage assessments would follow, with priority given to critical infrastructure such as hospitals.