HOUSTON — At least three deaths in Harris County are being blamed on heat following widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Beryl.
RELATED: Houston-area power outage tracker
One of those deaths was a 78-year-old man, who family members identified as Oscar Rodriguez. He died at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Heights. The cause of death for him was hyperthermia. According to the medical examiner’s office, power loss from Hurricane Beryl led to his death. As of Friday evening, his house was still without power, his family said.
We talked to Rodriguez’s son on Friday night. He said his father was staying in his bedroom Wednesday and said he was thirsty that afternoon. The son said he brought his father a Diet Coke and when he went to check on him by dinnertime, he knew something wasn’t right.
Rodriguez’s son said his father was able to care for himself, but had been without power for days. He said his father received a notice from CenterPoint that the power had been restored but it had not.
As for the other two heat-related deaths, according to the Harris County medical examiner’s office, 76-year-old Charles Anderson Jr. of Pasadena died of hyperthermia as a result of power being knocked out during and after Hurricane Beryl.
And the medical examiner's office also said 50-year-old Candie York of Channelview died at Houston Methodist Baytown from hyperthermia as well as other pre-existing medical conditions.
During the height of the storm on Monday, more than 2.5 million customers lost power. That number includes outages reported by CenterPoint, which had nearly 2.3 million customers without power, Entergy and Texas-New Mexico.