How do I find out if a certain address has power yet?

September 24, 2008 1:37 PM

Does zip code 77006 (in Houston) have power? How could I find out if a certain address has power yet?

I saw this but it is a week old and this has no reports from today.

posted by rmless to grab bag (13 comments total)

Do you have an answering machine? Call and see if it picks up. That's the advice I gave my in-laws.
posted by RustyBrooks at 1:40 PM on September 24, 2008

Nope, I am in NY and not in Houston, and I'd like to know if this address has power without contacting the inhabitants directly.
posted by rmless at 1:42 PM on September 24, 2008

The Chronicle has a pretty good database here.
posted by sanko at 1:44 PM on September 24, 2008

And according to that, looks like the power is on.
posted by WCityMike at 1:48 PM on September 24, 2008

I'm in 06 and just got power. It's still spotty. For the last week my neighbors 4 doors down had power while we did not. Lots of 09 is still in the dark too. It's spotty and random all over town.
posted by dog food sugar at 1:56 PM on September 24, 2008

Hmm, would it be wrong to assume that if on a street, house #5xx has power and #8xx has power, #6xx would have power too?
posted by rmless at 1:58 PM on September 24, 2008

It's certainly possible for only one house out of a block to be down. If I have a tree in my yard that takes out my connection to the pole, fixing that issue is a lot lower priority for the power company than fixing the tree that took out the whole neighborhood.
I'd also point out that fixing power for the even side of the street doesn't mean it's fixed for the odd side.
posted by nomisxid at 2:23 PM on September 24, 2008

I've been using the Chronicle website, they seem to have pretty up to date info.
posted by arcticseal at 2:24 PM on September 24, 2008

Centerpoint Energy says that as of 5AM about 13% of that zip code is still without power.
posted by Uncle Jimmy at 2:28 PM on September 24, 2008

From personal experience, you can't assume that #6xx has power just because #5xx and #8xx do. (It would be somewhat safer to assume that if several blocks are out, a house in the middle is out as well). Two houses on either side of me numerically (61X and 61X+2) had power a full week and a half before I did because a tree got jammed in my transformer and started a fire when Centerpoint switched on the juice. It takes longer to replace transformers and up downed lines than to flip the switches. I work with several people in 06 and about half are still without power.
posted by *s at 2:53 PM on September 24, 2008

I currently live in 77006, and a lot of the traffic lights (on Richmond and W Alabama especially) were still out afternoon, a good indication that the houses are still without electricity. I'm surprised it's just 13%; driving at night is certainly rather depressing, still, as many blocks are completely dark.
posted by halogen at 4:47 PM on September 24, 2008

2nd *s. it really is hard to generalize these things because of how and where problems occurred. Here in Cincinnati where we had crazy bad wind storms as a result of the Ike aftermath, my house was without power for six days whereas the power restored within24-36 hours to houses and traffic lights only a couple of blocks away.
posted by mmascolino at 7:28 PM on September 24, 2008

Assuming phone lines work and you know someone on the street that has an answering machine, you can call to see if it picks up.
posted by ajr at 8:09 PM on September 24, 2008