Texas’ Dan Patrick Creates Committee on Hurricane Preparedness in Wake of Beryl

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has announced that he will be forming the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity.

Quite the mouthful, but there are multiple reasons for the creation of this committee.

On Wednesday, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor officially made the announcement on X.

Patrick stated that the reason for this newly-established committee is that Texans are upset with the failure of Texas electricity companies in the wake of the recent hurricane.

Patrick said in the announcement, "I am appointing this committee to review what happened and establish why certain electric utility companies appear to have been woefully unprepared for Hurricane Beryl."

Electric company failures in Texas

Perhaps the biggest name hitting the news recently is CenterPoint, a major power company in southeast Texas.

In a letter from Gov. Abbott to the president of CenterPoint, he pointed out that over 2 million customers lost power and others continue to suffer to this day following the devastation of Hurricane Beryl. "Texans deserve better from their electrical companies," Abbott said, "especially during hurricane season."

Abbott also laid out six requests from the company ranging from steps taken by CenterPoint to reduce power outages in the future to restoring current customer power in a quick fashion.

Despite many customers being back up and running, there are still those who are feeling ignored from their electricity provider in the Texas heat of summer. These are currently being addressed by CenterPoint, and they hope to resolve ongoing problems as soon as possible.