[texanyankee]

Beryl barely reached category 1 status as a hurricane and it didn’t even make a direct hit on Houston.

I haven’t seen such a clusterf###k like this.

Everyone could see it days in advance.

[Zhang Fei]

[Beryl barely reached category 1 status as a hurricane and it didn’t even make a direct hit on Houston.

I haven’t seen such a clusterf###k like this.

Everyone could see it days in advance.]

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I would be unsurprised if periodic checks on power poles and transmission towers or replacements of same had been deferred because they never had issues before. Then they get a hurricane or tornado, and some multiple of the accumulated maintenance savings are wiped out as the economy grinds to a complete halt because of a prolonged regional power outage.

Maintenance isn’t glamorous. Nobody credits a politician for 100% up time. And the consequences of shoddy maintenance may appear years after he’s out of office. Whereas the cost of upping the utility’s game will appear on every power bill today, something the columnist falls to mention.