[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.

[texanyankee]

Add in the fact that Houston & the suburbs are full of trees & clearing the growth along the power line right of ways is way down on the list of ‘to do’ items.

[TStro]

My son in League City is still out of power
My wife went to see the grandkids Friday morning and broke her arm Friday night and couldn’t drive home
Because of the power outage I couldn`t fly to drive her back until Tuesday.
There wasn’t that much damage anywhere. Just tree damage
Obviously maintenance of the shrubbery around the lines was the big factor
Because of this she won’t be able to have surgery until Tuesday, a week and a half after the accident