- Teams remain ready to respond with enhanced staffing plans
and conducting pre-landfall emergency preparedness
protocols
- Customer natural gas disconnections have been suspended
in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to focus resources on preparation
efforts
HOUSTON,
Nov. 7,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Following Rafael's rapid
intensification into a Category 3 hurricane before striking
Cuba on Wednesday, CenterPoint
Energy continues to diligently monitor weather forecasts and
remains ready to execute its emergency preparedness plans and
potential restoration efforts following any landfall impacts in
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
The company is continuing to conduct pre-landfall
emergency preparedness protocols and stands ready to deploy
enhanced staffing plans across its Gulf Coast service area to help
restore service related to any potential outages. CenterPoint has
also identified more than 13,000 mutual assistance resources that
are available to support emergency response efforts if needed.
In addition to working closely with emergency
responders and agency partners, the company is also sharing safety
information with customers across its multi-state Gulf Coast
service area.
"While forecasts are starting to indicate a
potential path toward Mexico in
the coming days, there remains a great deal of uncertainty around
this storm and its potential impacts. To make sure we are ready for
our customers and the communities we serve across the Gulf Coast,
we continue to prepare to respond for any potential impacts from
Hurricane Rafael on both our electric and natural gas
infrastructure. Should it change paths and make a landfall in
Texas, Louisiana or Mississippi, our teams will be focused on
restoring service to customers as safely and quickly as possible,"
said Richard Leger, CenterPoint's
Senior Vice President of Gas Business.
CenterPoint temporarily suspends natural gas
disconnections ahead of Rafael
To help support its customers
ahead of the storm's landfall, CenterPoint has temporarily
suspended disconnections of natural gas service in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. This action will remain in place
until next week when more is known about Hurricane Rafael and any
potential impacts and restoration activities.
Electric and natural gas safety tips
- If you experience an electric outage, do not open freezers and
refrigerators any more than necessary, as opening these appliances
will allow food to thaw more quickly.
- Only use a portable generator in a well-ventilated area and
never run it inside or in a garage to avoid carbon monoxide fumes,
which can be deadly.
- Never connect a portable electric generator directly to your
building's electrical system during a power outage; electricity
could back-feed into the power lines and potentially
endanger CenterPoint Energy workers.
- Do not turn off your natural gas at the meter; your natural gas
meter should be left on to maintain proper pressure in the natural
gas piping within the house and to prevent water from entering the
lines should flooding occur.
- If you wish to discontinue natural gas service, the natural gas
can be turned off at each appliance. Later, to restore natural gas
service to an appliance, you may follow the written instructions
located on the appliance for re-lighting. If you are unable to
locate the instructions or don't feel comfortable re-lighting, call
a qualified plumber/technician.
Important information for electric
customers
At this time, the Greater Houston area is not expected to be
heavily impacted by Hurricane Rafael's potential impacts, but
storms are unpredictable, conditions can change rapidly and
storm-related outages could occur. CenterPoint electric customers
are encouraged to enroll in the company's Power Alert Service® to
receive outage details, estimated restoration times and
customer-specific restoration updates via phone call, text or
email. Customers can also stay up-to-date on outages with
CenterPoint's new and improved, cloud-based Outage Tracker, which
allows customers to see outages by county, city and zip code. The
new tracker is capable of handling increased traffic during storms
and is ADA- and mobile-friendly.
CenterPoint encourages all customers to have a
plan to stay safe
CenterPoint is encouraging all of its
customers to prepare and have a plan to stay safe during Hurricane
Rafael. Customers can get storm-related electric, natural gas and
flooding safety tips at CenterPointEnergy.com/StormCenter.
Additional preparation best practices are available at
Ready.gov.
For the latest updates, follow CenterPoint
on X (formerly Twitter) for real-time updates. For more
information and other resources, visit
CenterPointEnergy.com/NaturalGasSafety.
About CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
As the
only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) is
an energy delivery company with electric transmission and
distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution
operations that serve more than 7 million metered customers in
Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. With approximately 9,000 employees,
CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in
business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit
CenterPointEnergy.com.
For more information, contact
Communications
Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com
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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy