Frustration builds in Houston as utility struggles to restore power cut by Hurricane Beryl [Video]

HOUSTON — Houston’s biggest utility came under mounting pressure Wednesday over its response to Hurricane Beryl, as nearly 1.4 million area homes and businesses remained without power and residents searched for places to cool off, fuel up and find something to eat.

City Council member Abbie Kamin called the extended lack of power a “life safety concern.”

“We say ‘everything we can do’ to get the lights back on. In my opinion, respectfully, they should be on,” Kamin told a CenterPoint Energy executive during a council meeting.

“This was a Category 1 (storm),” Kamin said, referring to the weakest type of hurricane. “We know that this severe weather, the extreme weather due to climate change, is real and we’ve known for some time.”

Power outages peaked at 2.7 million customers after the storm made landfall in Texas on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us. Brad Tutunjian, vice president for regulatory policy for CenterPoint Energy, defended …