HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Friday marks 12 days that a family in northeast Houston has gone without power after Hurricane Beryl made landfall.
Three trees in their backyard fell, knocking out the power, gas, and sewage lines, and another is on the verge of falling.
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“I went the day before yesterday and got all my hair cut off because my nerves were bad,” Carolyn Ann Bennett said. “CenterPoint tells us there’s nothing they can do for us now. We’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”
The damage to their home on Harmon Street is so extensive that utility workers cannot turn on the power.
CenterPoint officials sent ABC13 this statement:
“We can confirm that 6331 Harmon has meter loop damage. We cannot safely restore service to the home until they have a licensed electrician make the necessary repairs.”
Kenneth, Carolyn’s husband, who is disabled, says that since no trees physically hit their homes, their insurance claims were denied.
He and his wife take care of four grandchildren.
“It’s really dangerous to be in this house. I pay all my bills, then I try to get help from people, and they give me the runaround,” he said.
The damaged power lines also knocked out the power to Dorothy Horton’s home, next door to the Bennetts.
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“Never in my life. Never. This is the worst I’ve been through,” Horton said.
Safely clearing out the yard is going to be difficult and expensive.
The Bennetts have been sleeping on couches and sleeping bags, huddling together in the one room cooled by a donated generator.
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Local volunteer groups are working to bring in licensed crews for help.
They’re all praying the tree leaning over their backyard doesn’t fall before workers can safely cut it down.
“If it weren’t for the man upstairs, my God, I don’t know what we would do,” Kenneth said.
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