Severe thunderstorms battered Houston in the early hours of Saturday, October 25, 2025, plunging vast swathes of the city and its surrounding counties into darkness. As the region grappled with the aftermath, more than 160,000 customers found themselves without power, the result of a tempest that toppled trees, snapped power lines, and flooded streets. The overnight deluge, accompanied by tornado warnings and wind gusts reaching up to 60 miles per hour, tested the city’s resilience and the readiness of its utilities and emergency responders.
According to Click2Houston and FOX 26 Houston, CenterPoint Energy—Houston’s primary electric utility—reported about 140,768 outages at 3:55 a.m., a figure that surged to nearly 167,000 by 4:25 a.m. Entergy Texas, which serves parts of the Houston area, logged an additional 18,200 outages in the same period. The numbers fluctuated throughout the morning as restoration efforts ramped up, but the scale of the blackout was evident across Harris, Montgomery, Waller, and neighboring counties. By 10:40 a.m., CenterPoint reported 44,575 customers still without power, while Entergy’s total had dropped to 9,082.
Behind the scenes, utility crews sprang into action before the first raindrops even fell. CenterPoint had mobilized 1,300 workers and contractors at 12 service centers across Houston on Friday, anticipating the storm’s impact. Entergy Texas pre-positioned linemen and had mutual-aid agreements ready, while state authorities kept 300 Texas linemen on standby. “We are taking this storm seriously,” said Nathan Brownell, CenterPoint’s vice president of resilience and capital delivery, in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. “We’re preparing for it, and we will be quickly and safely responding to all outages.”
As the storms swept through between 3 and 6 a.m., the hardest-hit areas endured wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph and up to 1.5 inches of rainfall in just a few hours. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service and Houston Chronicle warned that the saturated ground could lead to flash flooding, and indeed, street flooding and debris flows were reported in low-lying neighborhoods. Tornado warnings, issued overnight, heightened the anxiety for many residents, though no major injuries were reported as of Saturday morning.
For those left in the dark, information became a lifeline. Both CenterPoint and Entergy maintained real-time outage maps, accessible via their websites and mobile apps. These digital tools allowed residents to track restoration progress and report new outages without overloading phone lines. CenterPoint urged customers to sign up for Power Alert Service® and bookmark the Outage Tracker, which refreshes every few minutes with the latest updates. “Sign up for Power Alert Service®, bookmark the Outage Tracker and make sure you’re staying weather aware…” CenterPoint VP Nathan Brownell advised, emphasizing the importance of staying informed as crews worked “around the clock” to restore power.
Restoration efforts were nothing short of Herculean. CenterPoint’s approach was multi-pronged: large repair crews tackled major infrastructure repairs, rapid-response teams assessed damage and made immediate fixes where possible, specialized underground crews addressed outages involving buried cables, and vegetation management teams cleared fallen trees and debris. Material support staff ensured that crews had the equipment and supplies needed to expedite repairs. “Any outage is one too many and we want our customers to know we are focused on restoring their electric service as safely and quickly as we can,” said Jason Fabre, Vice President of CenterPoint’s Special Response Team. “Our crews are mobilized across the impacted areas and we won’t stop until the last customer is restored. We will continue working around the clock to restore service. We appreciate our customers’ patience and encourage everyone to stay safe and informed as restoration continues.”
By 7:30 a.m., more than 30,000 customers had already seen their power restored, and by 10 a.m., that number had jumped to over 120,000. CenterPoint expected, barring further weather disruptions, to restore essentially all customers impacted by the morning storms within 24 hours. Still, the utility stopped short of promising a definitive timeline, citing the need for careful assessment and safe working conditions.
Safety, officials stressed, remained paramount. Downed power lines, often hidden by floodwaters or debris, posed a lethal risk. CenterPoint issued a blunt reminder: “Always assume downed wires are live.” Residents encountering fallen lines were urged to stay far away and contact the utility immediately. Standing water near electrical equipment, too, could carry dangerous currents. Law enforcement and fire crews were on high alert to clear blocked roads and respond to emergencies, while local authorities opened cooling centers for those left without air conditioning during the muggy aftermath.
Governor Greg Abbott responded by ordering the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deploy flood and rescue teams statewide. “Texas stands ready to deploy all emergency resources needed to help local officials respond,” Abbott stated, urging residents to “monitor road conditions, make an emergency plan, and heed guidance of state and local officials.” Harris County emergency managers activated flash-flood monitoring and coordinated closely with utility and public utility commission staff.
Meteorologists warned that the ordeal might not be over. A second wave of potentially strong storms was forecasted for Saturday night, threatening to undo some of the progress made by restoration crews. The National Weather Service predicted an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain, with some areas possibly seeing up to 6 inches before the weekend was out. The severe weather risk, including isolated tornadoes, was expected to shift south as the cold front moved in, with lighter showers anticipated by Sunday.
Despite the chaos, utility stocks remained remarkably steady. On Friday, before the storm hit, CenterPoint Energy closed at $39.53 and Entergy Corporation at $96.60—prices that held firm despite the unfolding crisis. Analysts from Wolfe Research and Scotiabank reaffirmed their optimism about the sector’s fundamentals, though they acknowledged that events like these often prompt renewed scrutiny of grid reliability and maintenance.
For Houston, this was not the first brush with severe weather, nor will it be the last. But as the city’s lights flickered back on, the coordinated response from utilities, emergency officials, and local government offered a glimmer of hope—and a reminder of the resilience that defines the region. The work continues, but so does the spirit of a city determined to weather any storm.
