CenterPoint Energy has been monitoring tropical developments over the weekend and is activating its emergency response plans. It is also making early preparations for any potential tropical storm or hurricane threats for this coming weekend.
Tropical Storm Rafael, as named by the National Hurricane Center, continues to slowly become better organized south of Jamaica in the south-central portion of the Caribbean Sea.
Per the National Weather Service, it is expected to continue to gain strength and could become a hurricane by midweek.
"The 2024 hurricane season has been a very active one along the Gulf Coast and November looks to be no different. We want all our customers and communities to know that CenterPoint has a plan to address these types of potential weather developments, and we are closely tracking the storm's path and executing the early phase of our preparedness plan," said Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President, Electric Business. "It's still early and the exact path and intensity of this particular storm will continue to evolve over the coming days. You have our commitment that we will continue to proactively communicate with our customers and the public and keep everyone informed of the weather changes and any potential impacts."
First Phase: Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative
Since Hurricane Beryl earlier this summer, CenterPoint has taken action across the 12-county Greater Houston area to improve resiliency and help reduce the risk of outages this hurricane season.
In the first phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative, CenterPoint crews and contractors installed more than 1,100 stronger and more resilient fiberglass poles, trimmed vegetation along more than 2,000 miles of power lines and installed more than 300 automation devices in neighborhoods across the region.
Second Phase: Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative
In early September, CenterPoint announced a comprehensive suite of new actions as part of the next phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), including strengthening the energy system and operations over the next eight months and before the start of the 2025 hurricane season. These extensive near-term actions will: build on the work CenterPoint completed in the first phase of the GHRI, continue to strengthen resiliency, improve its communications and develop stronger partnerships, and help reinforce its electric system as it prepares for both the upcoming winter season and the 2025 hurricane season.
The actions in GHRI Phase Two will help enable a self-healing grid, reduce the length and frequency of outages and lead to more than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually for customers in the Greater Houston area. Work will be completed ahead of the 2025 hurricane season, or June 1, 2025, and will include:
- Installing new or replacing 25,000 poles that meet extreme wind standards;
- Trimming or removing higher-risk vegetation across 4,000 miles of power lines;
- Installing 4,500 automation devices, known as trip savers, and 350 Intelligent Grid Switching Devices as part of our effort to build a self-healing grid that utilizes automation to respond to outages faster; and
- Strategically undergrounding more than 400 miles of power lines.
