The acts of violence not only hamper the restoration efforts but also demoralize the utility workers. Many of these men have traveled far from their homes from all over the nation, working long shifts in dangerous conditions to bring electricity back to nearly three million people in the Democrat-ran city.
A non-Texas residing utility worker shared a variety of horror stories from the past week on TikTok, including a story where his colleague was hospitalized after ingesting water laced with fentanyl that had been given to him by the residents.
"What the hell are you guys doing right now to the men who came down, who left their families, to come to help you?" a lineman asked in a video post on X, formerly Twitter. "Linemen are leaving right now and there are linemen that will never be back to Texas. And let me tell you, I'm one of them. You'll never see me in Houston." He added that the most dangerous part of his job is supposed to be the electricity and it is not supposed to be the public.
There were also reports that the repair crews had been beaten and forced to evacuate staging areas, and in one case, 20 linemen were held hostage by armed men.
"We've had guys who have had guns pulled on them, we've got guys who have had rocks picked up and slung at them. I had a crew out in Sugarland, they had guys with AK-47s standing across from them. Never pointed it at them but menacing them," Ed Allen, business manager for IBEW Local 66 Federal Credit Union, told KPRC 2.
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One account on X posted a video where a seemingly lunatic local was battering his truck with a metal rod in the middle of a busy highway.
Last night, I posted videos of linemen who came from all over the country to fix the power grid in Houston. They stated that they have been attacked, beaten up, given fentanyl-laced water, and some were even threatened with guns.
Here is a crazed man attacking a lineman's truck… pic.twitter.com/F3FvBj9pSW
— I Meme Therefore I Am ?? (@ImMeme0) July 16, 2024
There were also reports of verbal attacks. Houston police have investigated at least five cases involving threats made to workers and other employees, whether in person or online. The police have also charged at least two cases. One suspect named Anthony Leonard, 38, has been charged with aggravated assault after allegedly pointing a gun at a group of CenterPoint Energy workers who were at a staging area.
Hurricane Beryl hit Southeast Texas on July 15 as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression. The storm unleashed heavy rain and winds that uprooted trees and damaged homes and businesses along the Texas Coast and parts of Southeast Texas. It left 18 deaths, which may have been due to heat exposure following the loss of power, according to the medical examiner's office in Harris County. (Related: Nearly all of Houston suffers BLACKOUT after Beryl makes landfall.)
Abbott urges residents to support rather than hinder repair efforts
CenterPoint Energy has already addressed the violence and threats met by its crews in a statement.
"The safety of our employees, contractors, mutual assistance crews and support personnel is our top priority," the release read. "For that reason, we have decided to close the site until we can be sure it is safe."
In line with this, Texas Governor Greg Abbott condemned the verbal and physical threats to the utility workers and urged the residents to just support the linemen rather than hinder their efforts. "If you're interfering with somebody who's trying to get the power back up, you're not speeding up the process of getting the power back on; you're slowing that process down," Abbott said in a recent press conference.
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia also called for an end to these threats. He was joined by Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Houston Police Department (HPD) Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite and union representatives from IBEW Local 66 in a press conference held at Leonel Castillo Community Center in Houston on Sunday.
"Violence and threats against people who are working to get the lights back on is not the answer, never," Garcia said. "All that does is make it harder and longer to get your lights back on."
Satterwhite said police are escorting linemen and watching over sites but some Satterwhite crews were forced to move staging areas. "They elected to move their operation from Barnett Stadium, all the way out to Barker-Cypress because they felt threatened. Well, that slows down everything that was ever close to the work being done. More people have to be without power because of the distance they're going to have to travel just to get back and do that kind of work," said Satterwhite. He said they will make arrests and because of the disaster declaration in place, charges for harassing or threatening linemen will be enhanced. "We will find you, we will make arrests, we will charge you," he said.
Harris County Sheriff Office's Chief Deputy Mike Lee echoed Satterwhite's comments, noting that he believes the majority of people are doing the right thing and allowing the linemen to work without interference, but also mentioned the enhanced charges for those who threaten or commit violence against linemen. "If it's related to the storm, we are going to ask the [District Attorney] DA to enhance the charges and they have been," Lee said.
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