Tropical Storm Francine: Gov. Abbott says CenterPoint is 'under a microscope'
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the state is taking steps to make sure Texas residents are safe as Tropical Storm Francine is expected to reach hurricane status, including making sure power companies are ready.
Gov. Abbott warned of life-threatening storm surge in some coastal Texas communities.
"Everyone along the Texas coast should stay vigilant and tuned to this and stay vigilant until the storm passes their particular area," Abbott said.
Tracking Tropical Storm Francine | Forecasting with Friends
All eyes are on Tropical Storm Francine in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to become a hurricane on Wednesday before making landfall. Where will it hit and what kind of impact will we see in southeast Texas? FOX 26's MIke Iscovitz breaks it down on Forecasting with Friends.
Currently, the path of the storm has the storm making landfall in Louisiana, but Governor Abbott doesn't want people to take chances after Hurricane Beryl.
"As we all remember, Beryl took an unexpected pathway. We must be prepared for Francine to also lead to unpredictable pathways as it gets closer to the shore," said Abbott.
Even if the path does not change, storm surge could lead to flooding in some parts of southeast Texas.
LIVE: Tropical Storm Francine tracker | Path, warnings, impact on Texas, Louisiana
Tropical Storm Francine is on track to impact parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana this week. The storm is expected to intensify into a hurricane as it moves northward, bringing dangerous conditions to coastal areas.
Much of the Texas coast is under a tropical storm watch with storm surges from one to three feet.
"We expect power providers to be prepared for this storm," Abbott said bluntly. "There is absolutely no reason for power providers to be fully-prepared to meet demands for this storm."
Abbott recognized that the storm could knock out power, but called on power providers should be ready to restore power in "hours not days."
Texas officials say they have been in contact with the CEOs of power companies from the coast to ensure that they are ready.
CenterPoint Energy says they have more than 2,000 front line workers and 600 vegetation workers performing pre-storm activities. The company says it has also identified an additional 5,000 workers to come and assist in the event that they are needed. 700 extra vegetation workers are also on standby.
CenterPoint also has a new outage tracker with data that updates every five minutes.
The governor says he understands that the people of Houston may be apprehensive about another storm after Beryl, but assured Texans that things will be different.
"The status of CenterPoint today is different than it was at the time when Beryl hit," said Abbott. "CenterPoint knows it is under a microscope."
Abbott says this storm is the time for CenterPoint to show they can live up to the promises they made after Beryl's disastrous response.
The state has pre-staged response resources from Brownsville to Beaumont.