Texans respond to storm-caused power outages by attacking utility workers trying to restore power

Hurricane Beryl caused significant power outages in Houston and with temperature at 90It was a dangerous, miserable situation all around. It was bad enough that many utility workers had come from out of state to assist with power restoration efforts across the city. But instead of being greeted and thanked by grateful residents, some utility workers were threatened, attacked, and even shot. Things got so bad that Texas Governor Greg Abbott was forced to deal with it, Click2Houston reports.

So far, at least one person has been arrested for pointing a gun at a utility worker and shooting him. But the most disturbing report we’ve heard comes from CenterPoint Energy, which said one of its crews experienced a shooting at one of its staging sites. As a result, CenterPoint shut down that site, slowing down its repair efforts.

“If you interfere with someone who is trying to restore power, you are not speeding up the restoration process; you are slowing it down,” Abbott told Houstonians.

Several local leaders also held a press conference on Sunday, pleading with people to leave the utility workers alone. Ed Allen, business director of IBEW Local 66, said:

I’ve had companies tell me Ed, if this doesn’t stop, we’re going to get in the trucks and drive away. In my 42 years in this industry, working here in this community, I’ve never seen a reaction like this from the community.

We had guys that had guns pointed at them, we had guys that had rocks picked up and thrown at them. I had a team in Sugarland, they had guys, with AK-47s standing in front of them. Never pointed at them but threatening them.

We are so much better than this.

Given how dangerous power outages in this heat are and how unreliable the Texas grid is, it’s understandable why people are so frustrated. At the same time, those decisions aren’t made by workers. It’s politicians and utility executives who should be held accountable, not the people who actually work to restore power. And that’s especially true for workers who traveled from out of state to help.