HOUSTON — CenterPoint Energy is preparing for the threat of another major hurricane along the Texas coast months after Hurricane Beryl hit Houston.
The public's trust in CenterPoint took a big hit after Beryl. The company now hoping to learn from past mistakes to show this time they're ready for anything.
Tropical Storm Francine is expected to become a category 2 hurricane in the next 24 hours, setting its sights on a Louisiana landfall for now.
"Right now we're preparing as if it's going to hit Houston," said Darin Carroll, Senior VP of Operations.
CenterPoint Energy closely watching the forecast and briefing the public about their plans to respond to Francine.
"We know these things can shift at a moment's notice," said Carroll. "Being unprepared is not an option."
CenterPoint said more than 1,300 vegetation resources are activated. 700 of those are already here from out of town. More than 1,800 local lineworkers are ready, and an additional 1,600 linemen have been requested and are en route.
"We're ready to show everybody that we have improved and we certainly understand the service we provide," said Carroll.
In the last 8 weeks, CenterPoint's also trimmed trees along more than 2,000 miles of power lines, installed stronger more resilient poles and also hundreds of trip savers.
Trip savers are devices that can energize power lines faster after an outage without waiting for crews.
"We heard the calls to action loud and clear in the aftermath of Beryl," said Carroll.
With Beryl damage still fresh in the minds of Houstonians and debris cleanup still ongoing across the area, city officials also keeping a close eye on Francine.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed and saying our prayers that it will avoid the Houston area," said Mayor John Whitmire.
CenterPoint said it's also improved how it connects with customers. They told KHOU 11News they've sent 2.4 million messages to customers so far ahead of this storm including reaching out to 3,000+ critical care customers.