Random hurricane recovery observations:
- There are so, so many trees down. I love trees, and even though the ones we’ve got down here in Clear Lake tend to be scrubby, short, and sort of ugly, it still makes me sad to see them in disarray. I wish there was a way to fix trees. Reattach their limbs and nurse them back to health. (My favorite tree at work lost its top. But the funny part is how JSC is treating the trees that still have loose branches stuck up in them — wrapping them with caution tape.)
- What is up with the stoplights? I understand that when we don’t have power, they don’t work. But why are they seemingly being repaired at random? On my way to work, I drive through 5 stoplights that are functioning normally. Then one that is flashing red no more than 1000 feet from the previous light. Then 200 feet later, the next light is working fine. At lunch today we had to go through the Bay Area / Space Center intersection and the light was out entirely. Bay Area / El Camino Real was out as recently as Sunday (and may still be out — I’ve avoided the intersection since then). Those are both major intersections, which makes me wonder if there is any rhyme or reason to which lights get repaired in what order.
- The amount of damage people suffered runs the gamut. I know plenty of people who had absolutely no damage. Then there’s the group that lost a fence or some shingles or had a tree fall down, but nothing major. Then there are people like Nick and Heather, who had a vent blow off their roof opening a hole that let rainwater pour into the vent system for hours. The vent system carried it throughout the entire house. The dining room ceiling collapsed from the weight of the water. They’ve had to rip out 70% of their ceilings and walls and are living in an apartment temporarily while they start the process of repairs. Then there’s Amelia and Raul, friends from my tri club, who live in Seabrook. Their entire first floor was flooded and now has to be entirely gutted. They believe that in a few weeks they’ll be able to move back into the second floor of the house while they also begin repairs. They are keeping a good sense of humor about it — Amelia said her first thought was to just replace the first floor with stilts!
- The waterline from the storm surge in Clear Lake is still visible in odd places. You can still see the line of trash and debris that sits about 4 feet below my apartment, though the complex has been very active in cleaning up debris elsewhere. Down near Kemah, you could see how high the water got by looking at a chain link fence that still had trash stuck in it about 2 feet up.
- So Centerpoint owns the power lines and transmission system. And Centerpoint is also in charge of new connections, transfers in service, and disconnects — a fact that I discovered when Reliant called to tell me that my power could not be disconnected in my old apartment because Centerpoint is not currently processing connects/transfers/disconnects since they’re working so hard to simply restore power at all. (Whether I’m currently paying the electricity bill for two apartments remains to be seen.) So if Centerpoint any similar companies own the lines and handles connections, why does my bill come from Reliant Energy? What the heck do they do? Do they provide the power itself? I’m missing something in how this system works, I think.
Confusing things today are often explained by history.
In Texas, it used to be that a company built the power lines and then had a monopoly on the power to the areas serviced by their grid. When the state government opted to ‘break’ the monopolies and allow customers a choice in power companies, the original companies still own their parts of the grid. But now several companies contribute power to the grid. Not sure how the billing system works out for the grid owners, but, at least this answers your question.
Sarah, I was wondering the same thing about the lights as I was driving to Hobby yesterday. Plus there were about 8 police officers at each intersection where the lights weren’t functioning. It was weird. I am also clueless on the Reliant/Centerpoint thing.
I think the answer is that for you, Reliant just bills you. For others, they provide the power. There are some power companies out there that ONLY bill customers. I don’t know if they have to buy power from the companies that own the grid and sell it to you at a markup or what.
I am glad you were safely nestled away in Conroe.
I hope the apartment has dried well. When I say well I mean odorless. I am almost scared and ashamed to tell people how quickly I got power, cable, and internet.