Hurricane Beryl
The city of Houston was struck early in the morning of Monday, July 8 by Hurricane Beryl. Houston is of course no stranger to hurricanes, and each one has its owncharacteristics. Beryl’s were twofold: (1) it was centered precisely to the west of the city so that the “dirty” side of the cyclone focused on the central city, and (2) high winds between 6 am and 10 am brought gusts well in excess of 50 mph which blew relentlessly through our very green and treed city. The result was that power went out almost everywhere, and we all emerged from our homes Sunday morning to find vast amounts of tree debris everywhere. Leaves, small branches, large branches, boughs, and in many cases entire trees lay in yards, pools, patios, roofs, streets, and, most problematic of all, across power lines. We can at least be grateful that the worst possible of all storm results - widespread flooding, which takes years, not days or weeks, to recover from - did not generally occur.
I own two homes in Houston, our primary residence and a rental home (our former primary residence), and the rental, five days after the storm, is still without power. My parent’s home has power but my brother’s does not. Three of four of New Capital’s staff are without power in their homes, and the fourth only got it back yesterday. Fortunately, our office at 3355 West Alabama has power, but it was without for two days - unusual for a building that is usually a fortress in inclement weather.
New Capital maintains a formal Business Continuity Plan for just such emergencies, and a few hours after Beryl’s departure I activated it. As a result, we have continued to serve our many clients, both in Houston and outside of Houston, and to function as a team, with our personnel operating on cell signals, from homes without power, in vehicles, at establishments, and at our office. I am proud of our staff, who have not missed a beat while simultaneously trying to maintain and restore their daily lives.
As always, Houston, one of America’s largest cities most prone to natural disasters due to the risk of hurricanes (cyclones), will assess itself in Beryl’s aftermath. The question of utility response times has already become a political football; the age old question of city zoning and settlement patterns will be debated again; questions about maintenance of power pole easements will be front and center; debates about burying power lines instead will be held; re-visiting the Houston and Texas power grid’s design and lack of broad national interconnection will recur; the total reliance on air conditioning for comfortable habitation of this region will always remain; the vital importance of electric power and the best way to generate and deliver it now and into the future remains at the heart of the modern economy; the worsening impacts of climate change and its amplification of storms is very worrisome; and the political and commercial forces that themselves often dictate which solutions get implemented and which do not - all of these things yet again lie ahead in Beryl’s wake.
For now, however, those who have power are grateful, while those still waiting must wait patiently for the heroic lineman crews - many of them from other parts of the United States - to reach the outage sources. New Capital has staff and clients in different camps, those with and without power, or with and without damages, and we continue to serve all with equal favor.
If you need our help, storm-related or otherwise, please do not hesitate to ask us, and if we can give it, we most certainly will.
Gratefully,
Leonard M. Golub