Credits: NBC News
Two days after Hurricane Beryl devastated Texas, Janet and Pamela Jarrett were still without power in their Houston home, enduring a heat advisory. The sisters passed the time playing Connect 4, trying to maintain a sense of normalcy.
However, early the next morning, Janet found her sister Pamela, 64, who was disabled and used a wheelchair, struggling to breathe. “I heard her heavy breathing, gasping for air,” Janet recalled. “That’s something that doesn’t leave your mind. It doesn’t go away. Even when I go to sleep and I’m laying there, I hear it. It’s like I’m living it all over again.” Tragically, Pamela died on the way to the hospital on July 11. Her official cause of death was hyperthermia due to environmental heat exposure.
Pamela’s death is one of 21 confirmed fatalities in Texas caused by Hurricane Beryl, with one-third attributed to severe heat amid widespread power outages, rather than the storm’s typical threats like flooding or falling trees. In the aftermath, heat indexes soared into the triple digits.
These tragedies highlight Texas’s inadequate preparation for extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. They also blur the lines between different types of fatal environmental disasters.
The death toll from Hurricane Beryl in Texas is expected to rise, increasing scrutiny of local utility company CenterPoint Energy and state leaders. Janet expressed her frustration and grief, saying, “She didn’t have to die that way. I’m angry because I couldn’t get a response. I couldn’t call anybody. I’m angry at CenterPoint for not doing a better job. I’m just angry at everything.”
More than 2 million homes and businesses were affected by the outages caused by Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall as a Category 1 storm. In a statement to NBC News, CenterPoint said it intends to conduct a “thorough review” of its response to the storm. “We want to express our condolences to the family and friends of those whose lives were lost as a result of Hurricane Beryl,” the utility said.
CenterPoint officials maintain that the company mobilized crews as quickly as possible and worked diligently to address the outages.
