Hurricane Beryl recovery: Houstonians are frustrated with speed of restoration efforts after 8 days without power

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Is this the new normal? Eight days after Hurricane Beryl hit, we continue to struggle. Even Houston City Council members are questioning the area’s ability to deal with severe weather, while many residents have just had enough.

Eyewitness News visited Northwood Manor in northeast Houston on Tuesday.

“It is hot. It is hot. My house stinks from the air being off,” Vada Roberts, whose power is still out, said. “My oxygen is running out. I can’t use my big unit in the house because there’s no electricity. I thought when they say you’re on the critical list, you had priority.”

“I’m so tired. Every time I come home and see that tree on top of my house, those trees, I don’t know what to think,” Wilbert Cooper said.

“When I wake up in the morning, I just pretend like everything is OK,” Cleveland Mitchell added.

Army veteran William Lemons has always trusted his country would provide.

“I’m not going to lose my faith. It can be questioned sometimes, believe me, and especially when you believe in our fellow man and our representation sometimes. It can be alarming,” he said.

On Tuesday, a sweltering day, it was cooler outside his home than inside, and he watched as utility trucks passed by.

“Definitely anxiety, but I try not to show it, but it isn’t easy to do sometimes,” Lemons said. “My wife is really stronger than I am in that respect.”

These neighbors lean on each other and say they’ve been here before.

“We have neighbors who have not recovered since before Hurricane Harvey,” Fred Woods, the Northwood Manor Civic Club president, said. “We’re not able to see recovery is a luxury. We can’t even get to relief.”

It’s been his group, not government officials or utility workers, checking on neighbors.

“I have no faith, and what hope some of us have is waning, but what else do we have? We pay our tax dollars into a system that we want returns out of. Where is our return on investment? We had the freeze, we had the derecho, and now we have Hurricane Beryl, and we’re only halfway through the year and just at the start of hurricane season,” he said.

But, Woods’ family has lived in the same house for five generations. With or without help, he can depend on Northwood Manor as home.

“History matters. I know who I am. I want my child to know who she is. I have a sense of belonging here, and that’s why I’m fighting so hard for my neighbors and my community,” he said.

For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook,X and Instagram.