Monday morning: The storm had moved in overnight. At 7 AM, the storm was raging. This was a category 1 hurricane. Although the winds were strong and the rain coming down in sheets, this wasn't bad, or so I thought, as I have been through far worse. At 10:30 I was actually online and the storm was dying down, when suddenly, no electricity.
One of the fun things about storms is going outside to see the effects of the storm. The fence around my yard, especially the backyard, is devastated and will need to be replaced. The roadside ditches were full of water and my toilets were difficult to flush, but this would change for the better an hour later.
When the derecho hit on May 16th, we were without power for exactly 48 hours. So, it was with this thinking that the power situation would be like this, but nothing was further from the truth. It was as if the longtime chief of operations for Centerpoint Energy had put forth his best effort on the derecho, and once that was finished, he retired, handing over operations to a DEI hire, probably somebody's know nothing nephew or grandson.
The hurricane was gone by midday Monday, but it was only then that Centerpoint began calling for mutual aid from other companies. Mutual aid began arriving on Tuesday, but this was their day to check into hotels and await instructions. Staging, and dispatching to locations actually began on Wednesday, and it was piecemeal, unorganized.
Fortunately, at first, weather wasn't an issue. On Wednesday, a weather pattern began that would bring midday showers, followed by cool afternoons. By Saturday, this weather pattern disappeared and it became hot-jungle hot, with high temps and high humidity. Whereas it had been uncomfortable, now it was unbearable. People's patience had evaporated because of the delay in restoring power and the jungle hot weather was making it worse. Centerpoint promised 85% restoration by Sunday evening.
There was a bright spot in all this mess. On Thursday, I had gone to the store for some non perishables. A torrential downpour hit while I was shopping. I decided to wait, along with others, near the exit, for the storm to pass. Suddenly, a male, with a large and full tote bag, was making for the exit. A female store employee was hanging onto the bag (I'm pretty sure she was store security). When they got outside, the male began punching the woman. Suddenly, two uniformed security guards and three more store employees joined in the fracas and the male was dragged back into the store. He was screaming that he bought all the items at Walmart. He was told, several times: "Let go of the bag and we'll let you go." After several minutes he gave up and was allowed to leave.
On Sunday morning I was sitting on my front porch. Two men from an electric company drove their truck onto my property. They got out of the truck and went to the back of the house to check the meter and the electric line (both were intact). About an hour later I saw a truck from an electric company drive down the street at high speed. I took this as a positive sign that they were at work in my subdivision. At 4:45 PM, the electricity came back on after being off for 150 hours.
I always keep extra non perishables on hand (the items I bought on Thursday were fruit) so, food wasn't an issue. I do have two portable "power banks" on hand for my smartphone, but I had not read the directions carefully. A thity year old neighbor showed me how to make them work. So, going forward, even if you don't have to deal with hurricanes, keep a week's worth of non perishables on hand and two power banks for your phone.