DALLAS — It’s been almost two weeks since Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas. The Houston Region bore the brunt of Beryl. The second tropical storm to hit the Houston Region in the last two months. Alberto landed in the area in June 2024.
Houston was the hardest hit but the last to get help. Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis says he thinks what he’s seeing is a series of unnatural disasters that have hit Houston. Beryl is the earliest storm on record to become a category 5 Atlantic Hurricane and Harris County wasn’t ready.
“Beryl’s forecasted path in the Gulf of Mexico shifted significantly, with the forecast, originally predicting it would hit northeast Mexico. So, here's the point I'm making is not as predictable, coming right after Alberto, it was just something we were not quite ready for,” the Commissioner said.
Ellis said he rates the State’s response to Hurricane Beryl as inadequate.
“The State's response was clearly inadequate this go around. I mean, the paperwork should have taken the course that it normally took, knowing that something is coming. The paperwork should have been signed and submitted to the White House just in case and amended later,” Ellis said.
And Ellis says the Public Utilities Commission has not done its job. He thinks changes need to be made to the industry.
“You know what we have in Texas is a system where for decades … maybe almost a century, we've had a regulated monopoly and more constraints should have been put on. Not just CenterPoint, but Oncor as well. … So, it's a regulated industry, but it's a regulated monopoly. So maybe we need to look at what can be done. So, you have more layers in the process, and figure out what can be done, not just to pass on more to the ratepayers, but make the company feel some pain,” Ellis told Inside Texas Politics.
Ellis is concerned that these two recent storms might at some point impact economic development because the headlines of the destruction have gone nationwide. He thinks that companies or businesses could rethink investing in Houston.
“It's gonna have an impact on economic development for this state. And this state is such a driver, is such an engine for economic development in America. Yes, it's gonna have an impact. I think that's why you're gonna see state leaders willing to hopefully make some investment on their end,” Ellis said.
He said the pressure is going to be on the state because the state controls the Public Utilities Commission.
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