MidSouth Electric Cooperative reports over half its feeders ‘severely damaged’ following Beryl

GRIMES COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) – In an email sent to customers Monday, MidSouth Electric Cooperative shared that 49 of their 60 feeder lines, which distribute power to different areas, were ‘severely damaged’ following the impact of Tropical Storm Beryl.

MidSouth Electric Cooperative executives said operations suffered significantly from Beryl, especially for its rural customers. At the storms peak, three-quarters of its total meters were without power.

One customer, who was taking refuge at a cooling center in Navasota, said she’s been without power since Monday as the company works around the clock to restore power.

As she waits for her lights and air conditioning to come back on, city officials in Navasota said the doors to its two cooling centers will be open for as long as residents need them to be.

“As of now, we’re kind of going on a day-to-day basis working with electrical companies, seeing what information they’re putting out on how long outages are lasting,” said Taylor Hughes, public information officer for the City of Navasota.

As of Wednesday afternoon, over 80% of its meters have been brought back online.

“Thankful for electrical companies and our public works crews for working as fast as possible to keep everyone safe and restore that power as quickly as they could,” Hughes added.

Another resident at the Navasota Public Library cooling center, Marcelina Wiggins, said she was lucky her power wasn’t out for long.

“It flickered a couple times, but we just prayed really hard and were like, just let us keep power. I do have five kids,” she said.

As the lights come back on for some, others are still left in the dark. Wiggins said she hasn’t been able to contact one of her sisters, who has spent multiple days without power or cell phone service.

Her greatest worry is just outside Midsouth Electric Cooperative’s service area, where her husband works in Houston.

“It’s a really stressful time for him, and for us as well because he has to be gone longer than normal,” she said.

Power for MidSouth Electric Cooperative’s customers is expected to be fully restored by Friday evening, with large outages expecting to be fixed by Thursday evening.

Its outage map shows as of 5 p.m. Wednesday around 400 meters in Grimes County are still without power.