Tropical Storm Edouard knocked out power for roughly 70,000 Entergy Texas customers as of Tuesday evening, Sept. 1. More than 1,500 field workers deployed across the utility's 27-county service area to begin restoring electricity.
The outage count is a regional total. Entergy Texas, which serves about 538,000 customers including Spring-area households, has not released a breakdown by community. Spring sits along and east of I-45, the corridor the National Weather Service flagged for the heaviest rainfall from the storm.
Edouard made landfall at about 2:20 p.m. CDT Tuesday near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm weakened to a tropical depression Tuesday night. The National Hurricane Center expected the depression to dissipate by Wednesday night, Sept. 2.
NWS Houston said the primary threat was heavy rainfall and flash flooding. Houston Public Media reported Harris and Galveston counties were under a flood watch from 1 a.m. Tuesday through 7 a.m. Wednesday, with most areas projected to see 3 to 5 inches of rain and isolated areas seeing 6 to 9 inches.
Frank Shannon, vice president of reliability for Entergy Texas, said crews were working around the clock despite difficult conditions.
"While high winds, flooding and other conditions can make restoration more challenging, our teams will continue working to reach all areas affected by the storm as soon as it is safe to do so," Shannon said in Entergy's Sept. 1 update.
Bucket trucks cannot operate safely when sustained winds top 35 mph, the utility said. Crews are using helicopters, drones, rear-alley machines and high-water vehicles to reach damaged equipment in flooded or debris-covered areas.
As we reported Tuesday, Gov. Abbott warned that Harris County faced some of the heaviest rainfall from the storm. Conroe ISD, which serves students in northern Spring, closed all schools and offices Wednesday, Sept. 2, citing potential flooding, power outages and hazardous roads.
Entergy Texas issued several safety reminders for residents during restoration:
- Stay away from downed power lines and assume every downed line is energized.
- Do not walk or drive through floodwaters, which can hide electrical hazards.
- Do not trim trees or clear debris near downed lines. Only qualified crews should remove vegetation touching electrical equipment.
- Never run a generator indoors or in an enclosed space.
Residents can report downed or damaged power lines by calling 1-800-968-8243. Outage updates are available at etrviewoutage.com.
