We are incredibly privileged to live in an age where help is readily available. In times of emergency, professionals are just a phone call away. Even when natural disasters, like Hurricane Beryl, gum up the works and extend the process, professionals are just around the corner.
But in a bizarre turn of events, some residents of Houston, Texas are, in the best-case scenarios, turning their backs on the volunteer electricians who have left their homes and families to help out after the category 5 hurricane left millions without power. The worst cases have seen Houstonians brandishing guns, throwing rocks, and stalking the men and women who are just trying to help.
The story was first posted by TikTok users and electric lineman, @returnofrandall, who has since deleted his tell-all post. Luckily, the creator was stitched countless times by people all over the country who are just as baffled as the lineman himself, and several commenters on the original video were Houstonians embarrassed and apologizing for their fellow city dwellers.
@raturnofrandal works as an electrical lineman – those daring folks who shimmy up electrical poles and towers to maintain and install the much-needed electrical equipment that keeps our power on – and has been posting about his job for years. In a recently removed video, the lineman took to TikTok to air his grievances and beg the people of Houston to get their s**t together.
In a short but frustrated rant, he claims that two linemen were hospitalized after being given water laced with fentanyl, that the staging areas set up for them to sleep received bomb threats leading to evacuation, alleges that guns were pulled on unsuspecting workmen, that linemen were physically assaulted, and most salaciously, that 20 men were held hostage at gunpoint.
He berates the aggressors, saying that many of the volunteers, including him, wouldn’t come back to the Lone Star State, before commending his colleagues for their speedy repair of the line.
“You had 2.7 million customers without power. In 6 days… [there are] only 25,000 outages left. Usually, when you reach the 3 million number, you’re looking at people without power for 4…5…6 weeks!”
Some of his claims are wildly inaccurate – no hostages were ever taken, and no one was ever drugged – but some Houstonians have actually lost their minds. Houston isn’t exactly known for its temperate weather, and the city regularly hits 95+ degrees Fahrenheit (35 C), so maybe it’s the heat melting their brains as they wait for AC.
Citizens have refused to allow linemen to access their properties, verbally and physically assaulted them, and as of Monday, at least 5 incidents of violence have been reported. One of those led to the arrest of a 39-year-old male who threw rocks at linemen before drawing and pointing his weapon at the workers.
100 linemen were evacuated from a staging area after threats were called in, and at least one woman has been charged with making a terroristic threat against utility workers. Ed Allen, the business manager for the local Union chapter and a 42-year veteran said he’d never seen anything like it. “In 42 years in this industry, working here in this community, I have never seen a response like this from the community.”
He continued, “We’ve had guys who have had guns pulled on them, we’ve got guys who have had rocks picked up and slung at them. I had a crew out in Sugarland, they had guys with AK-47s ′s standing across from them.”
Houston Mayor John Witmire addressed the violence, telling citizens, “Linemen are our friends and are doing their job. Do not threaten them. I understand you’re angry and mad and frustrated, but let’s get through this together.”
At almost 98% restoration at the time of writing, nearly 40K residents are still without power. In the wake of the botched response, CedarPoint Energy, Houston’s energy provider, has been slammed with lawsuits. The Texas governor opened an official inquiry into the company’s preparedness, and many Texans are wondering how it will handle storms in the future.
Whatever CedarPoint decides to do, they had best figure it out quickly because, after that less-than-neighborly response, it sounds like Texas may not get nearly as much help in the future.