Houston Chronicle by Nicole Hensley 3/28/2021
Houston families sue CenterPoint for February freeze deaths amid outages in vulnerable neighborhoods
Several more Houston families of victims of the February freeze are among the latest to sue CenterPoint Energy for allowing vulnerable people to languish without power during what were supposed to be brief blackouts.
Travis Flowers, 66, and Qazi Momin, 83, relied on oxygen tanks to survive, according to separate lawsuits — both of which were filed Friday by lawyer Tony Buzbee.
In the case of Flowers, the power at the Army veteran’s Houston home went out Feb. 15 and his wife, Brenda Flowers, swapped out his powerless tank for a portable device. By then, the home was too cold for the backup tank to work, according to the lawsuit. Flowers’ oxygen levels dropped dangerously low and he died at a hospital.
Two days later, when the power went out at another residence, Momin’s caretaker found him breathing rapidly. His oxygen tank was without power, the suit states. She “tried to make him comfortable using pillows to support him†but hours later, he stopped breathing.
Her phone was dead “so she went to her car to charge it so that she could call for help.â€
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-families-sue-CenterPoint-for-February-16059353.php
