Beryl was forseeable regardless of what Centerpoint may say

I hate to pull the I’m both an attorney and a meteorologist card. But for this post I will.

Centerpoint’s conduct and explanations are that which come out of the south end of a north bound bull.

This was a foreseeable event.

In law, foreseeable means something that a reasonable person could or should have anticipated. The foreseeability test asks if the defendant should have reasonably expected the consequences of their actions. If the resulting harms were not foreseeable, the defendant might be able to prove they weren’t liable.

With that framework as guidance, let’s turn to the weather aspects.

1) From a climatology standpoint, Houston is in a higher risk for hurricane impact when the east Pacific is transitioning between El Nino and La Nina.  Foreseeable? ✔️

2) We are in what’s universally forecast to be a hideous hurricane season activity wise.  Foreseeable? ✔️

3) We are in a period of above normal activity for early season activity.  Foreseeable? ✔️

4) Late June and early July are periods of danger for Southeast Texas. The image below from the National Hurricane Center shows storm point of origin and track for 10 day periods. Harris County is in the danger zone.  Foreseeable? ✔️

Note: from a foreseeable standpoint it is irrelevant where Beryl formed. The threat situation is what’s considered for foreseeable analysis.

Now, let’s look at Beryl’s path.

It was clear by Saturday morning that at least west of Beltwat 8 in the Houston metro area were going to be in need of significant repair work from a power distribution standpoint.

It was clear that somewhere along the middle coast was at risk a day or two before that. Even giving Centerpoint benefit of the doubt since the forecast path was creeping east, it was safe to have pre positioned in Austin-Waco so the vehicles would have been 3 hours away.

We have known for months now that the situation was dire, and Centerpoint should have been especially concerned with a hurricane impact in Southeast Texas with this background setup. We also knew the Houston metro area would need help as of Saturday and safe pre position areas 48 hours prior.

This was clearly foforeseeable from both a wearher and legal standpoint. The powers that be shouldn’t let Centerpoony off the hook by throwing out this is unprecedented, unforeseeable, etc.

This was clearly foreseeable both from a prevention and response standpoint.  Hold. Them. Accountable.