FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — With more than a million customers across the Houston area suffering through a massive power outage after Hurricane Beryl, many people are angry, frustrated and running out of patience with CenterPoint.
Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan said someone threatened a CenterPoint worker at gunpoint there.
“We had a call that a CenterPoint worker had a gun pulled on him. This is something we will not tolerate," Fagan said at a news conference on Thursday. "Any acts of violence taking place in Fort Bend County, be assured we will be filing charges and making arrests.”
No other details were released about the incident.
CenterPoint has come under scrutiny for its response to the Category 1 hurricane that left nearly 3 million customers without power at the peak of the outage. As KHOU 11 Investigates first reported, they didn't stage workers from other areas in or near Houston in advance of the hurricane, further delaying assessment and repairs.
Fagan reminded people that it's not the linemen working long hours in the heat who are to blame.
“You have to realize CenterPoint calls people outside of the state to help with this emergency. We will not tolerate them being abused, let alone having a gun pulled on them," Fagan said.
In an update on Thursday, CenterPoint said 500,000 customers may not have power restored until next week.