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'40 hours straight without electricity': Brownsville neighborhood struggles without power

3 years 1 month 1 week ago Thursday, February 18 2021 Feb 18, 2021 February 18, 2021 12:10 PM February 18, 2021 in News - Local

A Brownsville neighborhood saw four hours of power for the first time since Sunday.

Some residents were able to charge their mobile devices, but it wasn't enough power to save the food in their refrigerators.

"I just went grocery shopping and filled up my fridge last week,” said Brownsville resident Kristie Casay. “I have all of these goods and now they're all spoiled."

Casay typically spends $200 on each trip to the store. Without power, she's losing money on two fronts.

“Not only am I losing work - my income - but also I have to resupply everything again,” Casay said.

Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez on Wednesday told residents to take advantage of the rolling power outages as they can. But utility equipment failures have made ERCOT’s mandated blackouts the smaller problem.

"We had power for maybe just four hours yesterday so I could charge everything again and I just had this feeling it was going to back out again," Casay said. "It sure did at 10 o'clock at night...and I haven't had it since."

Brownsville Public Utilities Board General Manager John Bruciak joined the mayor to help clear confusion for residents.

"I just want to report we don't have any issues with our water plants,” Bruciak said. “The plants are in operation, they've been in operation. And our waste water plants. And there's no - at this point - boil notices. No concern on the water system."

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