Frustration mounts into threats for Texas power crews as 1 million still in dark after Beryl

HOUSTON – Menifee Lucy sits on her front porch for air in her Kashmere Gardens neighborhood in Houston, enduring the sweltering heat that feels like triple digits.

Her home lost power as Hurricane Beryl blew through Texas on Monday. She can't cook and is hungry.

"I've lost all my foods but these noodles; all of my meat spoiled," she cries. "No power for four days now, I don't know what to do ... I can't cook, all I have are these noodles."

Lucy was among the 875,000 residents in the Houston metropolitan area still without power Friday morning in the aftermath of Beryl's destruction and now facing the looming dangers of intense heat and humidity.

"I threw everything out, ain't nothing in here … everything spoiled," echoed neighbor Lily Reeds, showing her empty refrigerator in her apartment.

As frustrations mount, Texas power company crews are now facing threats while working to restore electricity to nearly a million people in the state who have been without air conditioning for nearly a week.

Despite the power numbers improving, the heat and humidity remain high on Friday as a Heat Advisory is in effect in Houston.

"Safety is our number one priority," said CenterPoint Energy, which says it has so far successfully restored power to more than 1.2 million customers. "We have received numerous reports of threats being made to our employees and crews. We understand how difficult and frustrating it is for our customers to be without power, particularly in this summer heat."

Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan stressed to residents that CenterPoint Energy called people outside the state to come in to help with the emergency.

"We will not tolerate them being abused, let alone having a gun pulled on them," he urged.

HOUSTON FACES DIRE FOURTH DAY FOR OVER 1 MILLION WITHOUT POWER AS ELDERLY DANGEROUSLY SWELTER IN HEAT

The utility company has reported that its 12,000-strong restoration workforce is laboring day and night in 16-hour shifts to safely and swiftly reinstate power. It is anticipated that 80% of affected customers will have their power restored by the end of Sunday. 

Amid residents' increasing concerns, teams are working to reconstruct the power system in the most severely affected areas, such as Brazoria County, Fort Bend County and along the I-45 corridor extending into the Woodlands. These locations have experienced notable structural damage.

Estimated losses are between $2.5 and $3.5 billion in Texas due to wind damage to properties, including damage to contents and business interruption, according to CoreLogic.

CenterPoint Energy said customers could experience prolonged outages and are in the process of providing estimated restoration dates for everyone who still doesn't have power, something that is expected to be done by Friday. However, the criticism from both local and state officials is still evident.

TEXAS SHELTERS SEEK HELP FOR HUNDREDS OF INJURED, ORPHANED ANIMALS DISPLACED AFTER BERYL

"Everyone wants to get to your issues as quickly as possible. We're holding CenterPoint accountable," Houston Mayor John Whitmire said. "I get a report every four hours. We tell them to do better, give us updates and what are you doing to double down and get additional resources through our community?"

Whitmire asks everyone to limit their driving at night because of safety issues in the dark.

CenterPoint Energy requests its customers to keep their distance if they see their linemen and allow them to do their job to ensure a safe restoration.