Our Electrical Lines and Poles Couldn’t Withstand Beryl. So What’s Going to Happen When We’re Hit by a Bigger Storm?

Earlier this year, a decayed utility pole toppled amid high winds in the Panhandle, dropping power lines into dry brush and sparking the largest wildfire in state history. The Smokehouse Creek fire burned more than one million acres and killed two Texans.Then, earlier this month, Hurricane Beryl brought relatively weak hurricane-force winds to the Houston area, wreaking havoc with trees and utility poles. More than two million households lost power. In the aftermath, at least three deaths have been attributed to heat exposure, amid soupy humidity and temperatures in the upper 90s. A week later, a quarter million Texans were still in the dark and without air-conditioning. As the unrelenting heat became a health hazard, emergency officials opened a temporary hospital in the parking lot…

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