HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Crews have been working around the clock to restore power for people in our area, and on Washington Avenue, CenterPoint has been working to repair a power pole that’s down after a Metro bus crashed into it.
The video above is ABC13’s 24/7 livestream.
The downed power pole is impacting an apartment complex on Washington and Wichman, in addition to a few blocks to the north.
According to CenterPoint’s power outage tracker, at about 6:30 a.m. Friday, there were more than 17,000 customers who were affected by 550 active outages. Those numbers are changing constantly with updates provided every five minutes.
In the past 24 hours, the energy provider has been able to restore more than 976 outages to approximately 130,000 customers.
If you’re one of those people affected by an outage, experts say not to use a gas stovetop or oven to heat your home.
However, if it is unbearable to stay home, there are multiple warming centers around the city.
“Having another place to go, if that is an option, that’s always a good situation to have. If that’s not the case, make sure you have blankets, make sure you have water, make sure you have food, make sure you have any medications that you might need,” Colby Gravatt, the area director for CenterPoint Energy, said.
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There were initial concerns that the power pole snapped due to the strong winds, but after ABC13’s Rosie Nguyen spoke with a resident, we learned the cause of it was actually due to a Metro bus crash.
The eastbound lanes of Washington and Wichman are blocked, but traffic is allowed to go around in the meantime.
Drivers are being asked to give crews room to work safely.
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