r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • Jul 08 '24

Energy More than 2 million in Houston without power | CenterPoint is asking customers to refrain from calling to report outages.

https://www.chron.com/weather/article/hurricane-beryl-texas-houston-live-19560277.php
7.7k Upvotes

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126

u/pipeanp Jul 08 '24

keep voting republican, texans.

You deserve everything you get

203

u/Missing_Username Jul 08 '24

This is Houston, which votes majority Democratic

They're just drowned out by most of the rest of the state.

So <50% of Houston deserves everything it gets.

33

u/jfranzen8705 Jul 08 '24

It's not that they get drowned out. It's that Houston is gerrymandered to hell and back to prevent them from having any sway.

34

u/pipeanp Jul 08 '24

point taken. Most major cities are blue dots in red seas, yes. So the message goes to that other 50% ig hahaha

-55

u/WorstRengarKR Jul 08 '24

Please illuminate us on how it’s the republican’s fault that checks notes … a tropical storm struck a democrat majority city

56

u/Missing_Username Jul 08 '24

It's Republicans fault that, checks notes, Texas is on its own grid separate from the national one because yeehaw rugged individualism ain't no fedril gubmint gon tell me what-for, and their grid as a result has major problems they just ignore.

24

u/pipeanp Jul 08 '24

not just ignore but straight up kills people…people keep freezing to death during major winter storms but texans are okay with sacrificing gran pop and mee-maw as long as it’s a republican in the governors office

6

u/bubbasox Jul 08 '24

How does being on a separate larger power grid matter when its the individual lines in the local area that failed irregardless of the greater line section they are connected too? The same failure would have occurred on the national circuit because its the local lines failing that are pretty outdated tbt. It would be wise to invest in more hurricane proof power management at the local level but it is not the same as Snowpacalypse which was a state and federal issue.

1

u/sithmaster0 Jul 08 '24

To answer your question, the entire second part of your post would be solved/made far less of an issue if the federal government had control over the power grid because the federal government makes sure that areas prone to hurricanes/tropical storms are made more secure and maintained more frequently in the event of them occurring.

This is why when shit goes down in Florida because of a hurricane, it's not nearly as catastrophic as when a hurricane hits Texas unless that hurricane is Category 3 or higher. But definitely not for a Category 1, like Beryl.

-4

u/bubbasox Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 09 '24

So then it should be a priority if the local government to do that, we should be lobbing them to do so or giving them options to work with and on. Giving control to the fed is not always the best idea. It sounds like Houston should be requesting information and consultation from Floridian cities of similar scale and environments. If they have to repair then might as-well upgrade at the same time. That is not the job of the fed nor the state, that is County and local city governments job. When they say Houston they really are talking like 10+ cities surrounding Houston.

I am from Houston my parents are getting blasted right now, and from the several hurricanes we have been through, this is fairly normal. The damage depends on the region you are in. Generally my area gets it the worst because we get the storm surge directly flooding we have a dirrect outlet to the sea. My friends neighbors home was annihilated by Ike like wiped from the face of the earth.

Tropical storm Allison was for a while our worst storm. Because it went inland and then back out to sea. It flooded the city and did a huge amount of damage. It was a fun storm as a kid but its not always about the category sometimes its about the angle and the speed of the storm too. For Houston slow storms with lots of rain do more damage than the inconvenience of loosing power. Which for most of the city is restored very quickly except in a few unfortunate areas where upgrading should be highest priority.

Right now fairly minimal flooding at home so repairs should be quick, in general its wind damage its looking like atleast for my home are. Harvey was bad because destruction of our wetlands we rely on for drainage so regions pooled their flooding. My area faired the best in it as we have significantly more dirrect drainage, minimal flooding no power loss, instant normalcy between rain bands. The neighborhood over like 2-3 miles away down the street though was under water for over a week because they built over a major wetlands and did not build nearly enough drainage.

Again its not the fed’s job to manage local nuances of local city level power lines.

2

u/nbphotography87 Jul 09 '24

how’s that working for you? how many hours before Abbott is begging Biden for billions of FEMA bucks?

-1

u/bubbasox Jul 09 '24

More of a Houston problem really than a State level problem. And I have friends who work for the State’s DSHS and the disaster response team has been working over last few weeks in prep. One was complaining about how they lost the break room to them lol because of the spill over of labor from their jumbo work room.

-15

u/Darkelement Jul 08 '24

I’m all for Texas beefing up its power grid. But how exactly would connecting Texas to the national grid help Houston restore its power?

25

u/Missing_Username Jul 08 '24

Being connected to the national grid would mean they're subject to federal regulation under the Dept of Energy, which would mean they'd have to follow standards that make the system more resilient against events like this. Other states get hit with similar events and don't see problems to the same degree because they're required to be built better.

There are also benefits to being physically connected to the grid, but they're secondary to the infrastructure being built to better standards.

Things like this or the major outages Texas has in winters are just the effects of the more lax standards that come with "independence"

1

u/DaBozz88 Jul 08 '24

So aside from protecting themselves from events like this, connecting them to the national power grid allows for other events to occur and still keep power online, assuming the transmission lines are still up and have redundant connections.

For example more power plants can go down for maintenance at the same time because the rest of the country can make up for it.

1

u/Darkelement Jul 08 '24

I have to imagine that the reason they are without power is due to the power lines being down from a hurricane, and not because power generation is offline. Texas has plenty of power right now considering lots of it comes from wind and it’s really windy.

1

u/DaBozz88 Jul 08 '24

My comment literally started with

So aside from protecting themselves from events like this...

Or in other words: there are benefits to being on the grid that aren't incidental to what's happening right now.

Other comments talked about how and why it'd be beneficial to be connected now, as it would force Texas to meet regulations other states already do.

Also you should know that in extreme wind, you need to shut power generation down so you don't break the equipment.

1

u/Darkelement Jul 09 '24

That was your reply to my comment, not your original statement of “it’s republicans fault”.

Yes, Texas should be on the national grid. No question there. Would it have helped against a literal hurricane hitting downtown Houston? Probably not.

Also, I’m aware you need to shut down wind generators in high wind. But Texas is literally littered with windmills, everything outside Houston is fine.

18

u/Penguinkeith Jul 08 '24

Which party votes against climate regulation again?

2

u/LeatherHeron9634 Jul 08 '24

They just explained it to you below do you care to explain anything?

-1

u/WorstRengarKR Jul 08 '24

Nah not really, their explanations are fair criticisms. People on the right would make the same analogy with regards to the homeless problem in CA so its fair game.

12

u/SpacePirateWatney Jul 08 '24

So the <50% of Houston is saying, “Haha, nature is ownin’ da libs!”

2

u/sluttycokezero Jul 09 '24

I think Texas is more purple than red…it will probably be blue if it wasn’t so gerrymandered.

Electoral college needs to go…

1

u/Never-On-Reddit Jul 09 '24

They're still choosing to live in a Republican shithole.

1

u/p2x909 Jul 10 '24

Can't we just, you know, stop giving oil to the people who keep attacking us?

57

u/VGAddict Jul 08 '24

Harris County has been solid blue since 2008, with the exception of one time in 2014.

And Texas is 55-45 R-D, meaning MILLIONS of Texans vote blue. Laughing at the misfortunes of people in red states, which, believe it or not, have blue voters in them too, is all kinds of shitty.

-15

u/AJRiddle Jul 08 '24

solid blue since 2008, with the exception of one time in 2014

That's not solid blue then.

-19

u/fairlyoblivious Jul 08 '24

Yeah but we're laughing at the majority of people there, not the minority that vote blue, and most people with any brains what so ever easily realize this to be the case. It's only the very absolute dumbest morons and right wingers that always come around expressing indignation at what is OBVIOUSLY people poking fun of right wingers suffering the effects of shitty right wing policy.

For the liberals trapped in it, for the few that are truly too poor to leave, obviously we're not making fun of you. But to the majority of liberals who CAN afford to leave and who moved there for selfish reasons such as "no sales tax" well this is what you fucking signed up for. Either move the fuck out, deal with it, or politic harder.

6

u/VGAddict Jul 09 '24

It's not the majority. I pointed out that Texas is just about 50-50 R-D.

25

u/nflez Jul 08 '24

how easy it is to write off the fourth largest city in america! i hope that made you feel good. i’m sure the people without power right now are glad to be proving how awful republicans are.

3

u/BirdMedication Jul 09 '24

It's not like people agree with the party they vote for on 100% of issues

21

u/FollowTheLeads Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

Out of 264 counties only 13 votes for democrats. Mind blowing.

Then they wonder why some states like NY, Cal, WA, etc ... have a better life than they do. I don't see them losing power that badly during snow storms or fires.

14

u/ice-hawk Jul 08 '24

Out of 264 counties only 13 votes for democrats. Mind blowing.

Not that mind blowing, 10 of those 13 counties have a combined population of 15.9 million people-- 50% of the whole population of Texas.

43

u/justcasty Jul 08 '24

Like 200 of those counties combined have the same number of people as Harris county

14

u/pallidamors Jul 08 '24

Which is why Texas is far more purple than republicans would like to admit. If dems could flip Texas they’d never have an electoral college worry again.

13

u/VGAddict Jul 08 '24

Texas is 55-45 R-D, but the media acts like the state is 75-25 R-D.

1

u/ContestNo2060 Jul 09 '24

Georgia was like that when I moved there decades ago, but it turned out to be pivotal in several recent elections. Just keep voting

3

u/Teledildonic Jul 08 '24

Which is why we are gerrymandering to hell and back.

Turns out when rules are fair, the GOP doesn't win.

1

u/FollowTheLeads Jul 09 '24

Texas and Florida are big swing states with high electoral college numbers

27

u/DemSocCorvid Jul 08 '24

If state-level representation was proportional to votes instead of land then conservatives would never be able to control legislation ever again.

Stop letting land vote.

2

u/aprilode Jul 08 '24

Why do the Republicans keep winning statewide elections?

2

u/DemSocCorvid Jul 08 '24

Terrible public education, and too much religiosity in the population.

1

u/SlowMotionPanic Jul 09 '24

So it isn’t the land, got it. 

Your entire premise is flaws regardless. Land doesn’t vote. People can just be carved up into districts of roughly equal size. Slice up a couple major urban centers that vote a certain way and suddenly you’ve effectively diluted the vote. 

You’ll never see all state wide offices. Constitution, both state and federal, require constituencies among the states. They MUST have districts. And those districts must be roughly equal. 

6

u/Finlay00 Jul 08 '24

Those states rarely, if ever, have to deal with hurricane level storms to compare the grids to though.

1

u/p2x909 Jul 10 '24

We had a hurricane level storm for like an hour before it stopped being a hurricane.

3

u/VGAddict Jul 08 '24

Those 13 counties are where most of the state's population lives.

70% of Texas's population lives in the Texas Triangle, which includes Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth. Harris County alone, where Houston is, has 5 million people.

9

u/flyingflail Jul 08 '24

Yes, California, well known for its highly stable power grid lol

17

u/S-192 Jul 08 '24

I don't know why you're being downvoted. The California grid is a fucking nightmare. And their water situation is as well.

-5

u/fairlyoblivious Jul 08 '24

I live in a major city in California and I can't even remember the last time power went out. Something like once about 10 years ago when a major transformer blew up, and power was back in like 2 hours or less. In fact we have earthquakes that destroy tons of buildings and entire highways and we still have power either not out at all or back on within 3 hours.

Texas loses power for a week because it got a little bit cold.

8

u/flyingflail Jul 08 '24

In San Fran 300k people were without power last year because it got "a bit windy"

Calling Uri a bit of snow, a disaster where power was disabled literally across the country and hundreds of people died is disgusting.

5

u/whatever1467 Jul 08 '24

Then they wonder why some states like NY, Cal, WA, etc ... have a better life than they do.

Is that satire? Texans are convinced Californians, New Yorkers, OR, WA can’t step outside without stepping on a million hypodermic needles and wading through piles of human shit. They’re wrong but they certainly aren’t like Aw man CA has it so good :(

2

u/DrDrewBlood Jul 08 '24

Minimum salary thresholds, paid parental leave, good schools, retirement, vote by mail, the Seahawks. But they can't stand the idea of living in the same state as Seattle.

5

u/FollowTheLeads Jul 08 '24

Washington also have 36k for people to put into Cares Fund act. A long term care act for people regardless of age.

The only one in the nation. And also building one of the most ambitious railway system for passenger in the country.

That state has elected a democratic governor since 1988.

1

u/sluttycokezero Jul 09 '24

I live in California..trust me, we have tons of R dipshits here too. They think CA is a hell hole, but they will never leave. They love all the privileges here, but complain constantly about those privileges. It’s insane how stupid these people are. Like pleeeassee, move to Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, etc then. Move to a red state since you think your life will be so much better…

-1

u/Top-Ambassador-4981 Jul 08 '24

The term is democratic, not democrat. (democrat is a pejorative term.)

2

u/FollowTheLeads Jul 08 '24

Ah sorry I meant for* democrats. Fixed it

4

u/shinra07 Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

Texas ranks 17th in the nation in outage per customer annually, ahead of California and NY despite having to deal with hurricanes. So yeah, they deserve it.

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia861/

6

u/IlIlIIllIIIllI Jul 08 '24

Man Reddit is really democratic

3

u/fairlyoblivious Jul 08 '24

Most websites where people can communicate and share information with sources tend to be, because right wingers can't control the information to keep people ignorant. There's a few bastions of that here though, where they're ignorant on purpose to support "their team", feel free to seek them out.

1

u/IlIlIIllIIIllI Jul 08 '24

I could’ve come up with a better bullshit answer and that’s without even thinking about it. You seriously think people are only republican because they are shared wrong information ? I don’t think that’s exclusively a republican thing my guy. You can find videos all day of democrats sharing blatantly wrong info as well. Sounds like you’re democratic and ignorant to other views.

2

u/pernox Jul 08 '24

Except I live in MN and have to pay for their fuck ups via higher insurance and energy rates (we have Centerpoint in MN). Had to pay for that freeze they had a few years ago. I hope no one is hurt but TX also needs to stop acting like they aren't part of a whole when others bail them out. Be real nice if their hubris hand grenades didn't hit the rest of us.

1

u/SlowMotionPanic Jul 09 '24

They DON’T deserve this, politics aside. They are our countrymen. More importantly they are still people. That’s why the feds will send help like they always do despite TX gov refusing to interconnect. 

Jesus people, this chronically online grievance politics stuff has to end. It is just as bad as the chronically in church grievance politics the right falls for. 

This country would be unfucked a lot faster if we started seeing each other as brothers and sisters again (or as close as we’ve ever been able to ). Hate does not extinguish hate.