- Outage toll: Overnight Friday into early Saturday (Oct 25) severe thunderstorms left roughly 160,000+ customers without power in Greater Houston fox26houston.com click2houston.com. CenterPoint Energy (Houston’s main utility) reported about 140,768 outages as of 3:55 AM CDT, rising to ~167,000 by 4:25 AM fox26houston.com click2houston.com. Entergy Texas (serving parts of Houston) logged about 18,200 outages in the same period fox26houston.com. In many neighborhoods, trees and flooding from torrential rain brought down lines. At last report no major injuries were reported, but authorities issued flood watches and severe thunderstorm/tornado warnings across the region (see below) as the system moved east fox26houston.com fox26houston.com.
- Utility response: In advance of the storm, CenterPoint had mobilized 1,300 crews and contractors at 12 service centers around Houston click2houston.com. The utility has dedicated large repair crews (for major restoration) and rapid-response teams to “quickly assess damage and perform immediate repairs” as outages occur click2houston.com. CenterPoint VP Nathan Brownell urged customers to use its outage map and alerts: “Sign up for Power Alert Service®, bookmark the Outage Tracker and make sure you’re staying weather aware…” as crews work “around the clock” to restore power click2houston.com. (Brownell also said earlier, “We are taking this storm seriously… we will be quickly and safely responding to all outages” houstonchronicle.com.) Entergy Texas likewise pre-positioned linemen and has mutual-aid agreements ready, and state authorities have 300 Texas linemen on standby. Emergency officials advise anyone seeing downed lines to stay back and call utilities immediately houstonchronicle.com.
- Storm details: Meteorologists warned of two waves of storms hitting Houston this weekend. An early Saturday line (moving in before dawn Sat.) brought the first round, and a second front was expected Saturday night. The NWS and Chronicle experts forecast 2–4 inches of rain (locally 4–6″) across Harris and neighboring counties through Sunday houstonchronicle.com houstonchronicle.com. Houston Chronicle meteorologist Justin Ballard noted the first round “could pack damaging wind gusts of 60 mph” and flash flooding: “heavy rainfall also could quickly overwhelm sun-baked soils, resulting in localized flooding” houstonchronicle.com. Indeed, street flooding and isolated debris flows were reported in low-lying areas Saturday morning. The severe weather risk (including isolated tornadoes) was highest north and west of Houston in the pre-dawn hours, then shifted south as the cold front moved in houstonchronicle.com houstonchronicle.com. By late Saturday the line was moving offshore, and lighter showers or residual thunderstorms were expected to diminish by Sunday houstonchronicle.com. Notably, if Bush Intercontinental Airport records ≥2″ rain on Saturday, it will be the first such rainfall since Hurricane Beryl in July 2024 houstonchronicle.com.
- Government action: State and local officials have mobilized. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to stand up flood and rescue teams across the state click2houston.com. “Texas stands ready to deploy all emergency resources needed to help local officials respond,” Abbott said, urging residents to “monitor road conditions, make an emergency plan, and heed guidance of state and local officials” click2houston.com. Harris County emergency managers activated flash-flood monitoring and coordinated with utility PUC staff. In Houston, flash-flood watches (into early Sunday) cover much of the metro area fox26houston.com. Law enforcement and fire crews are on alert to clear any roads blocked by debris or water. Residents are advised to avoid driving through flooded streets and to report hazards (downed lines, unstable trees) to 911 or utility hotlines.
- Market snapshot: Utilities stocks were steady amid the storm coverage. On Friday Oct 24 (before the storm hit), CenterPoint Energy (NYSE: CNP) closed around $39.53 marketscreener.com. Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) closed about $96.60 investing.com. Those prices were roughly flat on the week. Analysts remain cautiously optimistic on utility fundamentals: Wolfe Research and Scotiabank recently reaffirmed Outperform ratings and raised CNP’s 12-month target to ~$45 marketscreener.com, citing Houston’s strong demand growth and resilience plans. (CNP’s current forward EPS guidance implies mid-single-digit yearly growth nasdaq.com marketscreener.com.) However, events like this outage can spur scrutiny of grid reliability and maintenance. We will monitor how fast power is restored and whether regulators or markets react.
Sources & Updates: All figures and forecasts are from local news and official advisories. Utility outage trackers were used for numbers fox26houston.com click2houston.com. Meteorological details come from the National Weather Service and Chronicle forecasters houstonchronicle.com houstonchronicle.com. Utility statements and expert quotes are from CenterPoint/Click2Houston reports click2houston.com houstonchronicle.com. Stock data is from MarketScreener historical quotes marketscreener.com marketscreener.com. (For broader context on storms this season, note technology-driven forecasting improvements – e.g. satellites providing “detailed, real-time views” in an active 2025 hurricane season ts2.tech.) As the situation evolves on Oct 25, we will update with any new restoration timelines or significant developments.
