HOUSTON — City and state officials on Thursday addressed serious issues at Houston hospitals caused by Hurricane Beryl.
Acting Texas Governor Dan Patrick said some patients are stuck at hospitals because they can't be released to homes that don't have power. So now the state is sending 25 ambulances to transport patients to NRG Arena. That's where a facility will be set up with 250 hospital beds. Patrick says it'll free up space at hospitals for new patients.
"The additional ambulances coming in, as the governor said, will help alleviate some of the wall times that your current 911 system is experiencing," said Texas Department of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd. "And then working with the hospital systems, I talked to the Texas Hospital Association a few minutes ago. They've asked for this additional resource to help load balance the hospital needs of the community."
In addition, LBJ Hospital lost power during the storm and its backup generator failed. That forced the hospital to cancel two emergency surgeries. Those patients were sent to other hospitals for the procedures.
CenterPoint restored that power quickly, according to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Hidalgo says now that the federal government will send generators to help out Houston.
Some of those may end up going to nine Houston Fire departments. Mayor John Whitmire said that they lost power and don't have backup generations.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story mentioned the beds would be set up at NRG Center. We have corrected that.
RELATED: Full coverage of Hurricane Beryl