HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — More than a million CenterPoint customers remained without power on Thursday and residents are still picking up the pieces due to widespread destruction to communities across Southeast Texas.
And now, the response to Beryl is turning political.
Gov. Greg Abbott is in Asia on an economic development trip, meaning Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is the acting governor.
During a news conference on Thursday, Patrick touted the state's response to the widespread destruction and power outages in Beryl's wake. He said the state provided assistance to a number of communities across Southeast Texas, but said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo turned down the offers.
Patrick said they reached out to Hidalgo on Saturday, July 6, two days before Beryl hit. He said they asked if Hidalgo and Harris County needed anything and she responded and told them no.
Patrick said they reached out again on Sunday and she didn't respond. Patrick said they reached out again on Monday and Tuesday and on both days, Hidalgo told them, "we're good."
On Thursday night, Hidalgo's spokesperson Angelica Luna Kaufman sent KHOU 11 a response, saying, “Judge Hidalgo has been very clear that she has not spoken to the Lt. Governor. She and other leaders, across all levels of government have been focused on meeting the needs of our communities impacted by Hurricane Beryl and it is absurd that the County would decline any aid that would help our area recover more quickly. His ridiculous claim that she turned away help from the state is meant to feed a false narrative to get people riled up when we are already dealing with so much.
Judge Hidalgo will not be getting into a back and forth with the Lt. Governor and will remain focused on leading our County through this critical post disaster period.”