AUSTIN, Texas — A special Texas Senate committee was formed less than two weeks after Hurricane Beryl caused widespread damage and power outages in Southeast Texas.
The committee's mission will be to look into the preparation and response to tropical weather in the state.
Texas Lt. Dan Patrick announced its creation on social media Wednesday.
"Texans are rightfully upset with the overwhelming failure of electric utility companies to restore power in a timely fashion following Hurricane Beryl," Patrick said in a release. "The electric utility companies’ failure cannot be tolerated, especially when it was so obvious a storm was headed toward Texas."
Sen. Charles Shwertner (R-Georgetown) will chair the committee. Phili King (R-Weatherford) will be vice chair.
"As chairman of the special committee, I will focus on why electric utility companies failed to provide timely power restoration to millions of Texans and the decisive actions these companies will take to ensure this type of catastrophic failure never happens again," Shwertner said in a release.
Seven of the committee members are from the Houston area, which was hit hard by Beryl last week. More than 2.5 million customers were in the dark after the storm hit.
Below are all of the committee members
- Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, Chairman
- Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, Vice Chair
- Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston
- Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston
- Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe
- Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen
- Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston
- Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham
- Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-Palm Valley
- Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston
- Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston
- Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville
- Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo