Houston Communities Fight To Recover A Month After Hurricane Beryl’s Impact

Hurricane Beryl continues to have an impact on a disproportionate number of communities in Houston nearly a month after making landfall in the city.

It has been a month since Hurricane Beryl impacted the Houston community, yet residents are still reeling from the storm’s aftermath.

According to Prism, on July 8, the Category 1 system swept through the Houston area, causing over 2.5 million businesses, homes, and schools to lose power. More than a week after the storm made landfall, hundreds of thousands of residents were still without power, leading to loss of contact with loved ones, no access to food, and fear for their safety.

The Houston area is no stranger to storms like Hurricane Beryl. In fact, the city has been subject to greater storms like Category 4 Hurricane Harvey, which funneled through the Texas city in 2017. One Northwood Manor neighborhood resident, Wilbert Cooper, has survived 24 years of storms. However, he told the outlet that Beryl was responsible for the most damage to his home.

“This was different because of all the trees that fell. And how windy it was,” said Cooper. “We didn’t get much rain. It’s just a lot of wind. And a lot of trees fell.”

Most of Cooper’s neighbors are Black and elderly, and he admits that civic club leaders did more for the community in the aftermath of Beryl than elected government officials.

“We haven’t saw [Mayor John Whitmire]. We haven’t saw ’em passing through, talking to the people,” he said. “You can never be visual unless you talk to people that’s involved with the situation that’s happening.”

According to a study published by the Urban Insitute in 2018, titled “Measuring Inclusion in America’s Cities,” Houston ranked 273rd out of 274 cities on overall inclusion; it came in 264th on economic inclusion and clinched the 261st spot on racial inclusion.

Alvarex Almendariz, a Harvard University Ph.D. candidate, studies disaster and colonialism in the Texas Gulf Coast. Beryl impacted him in July, and he notes that for the nearly six days he was without power, he worked alongside neighbors to power fans and medical equipment by using small power stations provided by local disaster recovery nonprofit West Street Recovery.

While most of his Black elderly neighbors chose to sit in their air-conditioned vehicles to avoid illnesses caused by excessive heat, Almendariz took it upon himself to make ice deliveries to keep his neighbors’ medicines and food chilled. In the process, he soon discovered that whiter neighborhoods in Houston had access to power well before the problem was solved in his Southside neighborhood.

“We live in a society that is deeply, historically racist, classist, and ableist,” said Almendariz. He further explained that when systemic oppressions are left unaddressed, efforts for recovery will continue to be hard “for people who are already having a hard time accessing basic, life-saving resources—whether it’s food, water, clean air outdoors or cool air inside.”

Local news outlets reported 36 storm-related deaths in the Houston area as a result of Hurricane Beryl. Roughly 16 of those deaths were heat-induced.

Along with civic club leaders and neighbors like Almendariz, Houston natives and entertainers like Megan thee Stallion and Bun B played a role in helping those in need within the community following Hurricane Beryl’s destruction. The hot girl coach donated generators to elders impacted by power outages, and fellow emcee, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Bun B provided the community with free burgers from his Trill Burgers restaurant.