Houstonist Rides Along with CenterPoint

Well, not really us. But,we've got friends in POWERful places.

We caught up with a motorcycle officer with the Harris County's Constable's office who has been escorting CenterPoint crews during the restoration of the city's power. Below he has shared a few words with us about the last few days.

As you will read in the account below, you will learn that many of these crews are not local to Texas. These crews, some of them working 16 hour days, have apparently been on the road since BEFORE Hurricane Gustav. They aided in the restoration of that storm, were on their way home, and turned around to head to the Gulf Coast.

"Their system is unbelievable. It is amazing how they organize such a massive endeavor and get it done as fast as they do. Everybody has a sheets and sheets of Orders. They include “Grids’ that are interrupted and off they go. I took about 15 trucks to Cunningham Rd. very close to Jersey Village, huge transformers all over the roadway. They had them repaired in about 2 hours and it was off to another grid.

The workers have been on the road for 18 days. They just left Louisiana after some storm there and about to return to home when they were called and advised Houston was in desperate need for their expertise, so they turned around and here they are.

Everyone I escorted was from out of state. They came down with yellow vests and they almost were hit by drivers because the drivers in Texas think Yellow marker are cones. They traded them in for the National standard vests color of Light Green."

In Houstonist's humble opinion (IHHO?), these crews, and our local law enforcement, have done an excellent job of communicating the power restoration efforts and stepping up to the challenges they face: restoring power to the nation's fourth largest city ain't no piece of cake.

We understand that some of our readers, and even some of us, still are holding out for power. It's not fun. It's not easy. And it's getting hot. But let's try to continue to support the effort of our city leaders and private sector companies who are spending time away from their families, many of whom are in the same situation as many of you, to work for the greater good of the city. Nothing's gonna work perfect, people. This was a major disaster. But from what we've seen in the past few days, we're coming pretty darn close.

image: Flickr User FPL