HOUSTON – A group of homeowners in Rice Military is demanding answers and reimbursement after they say an 18-wheeler brought down power lines on their street, leaving them without electricity for five days and forcing them to cover nearly $20,000 in repair costs out of pocket.
The incident happened earlier this month on Detering Street, a narrow residential road lined with trees and condos.
Homeowners say the truck, operated by a company identified as 6G Transport, drove through the area and struck low-hanging lines, dragging down a power pole and causing widespread electrical damage.
“To say that I am outraged would be an understatement,” said Dana Davis, one of the impacted homeowners. “We were literally and physically in a position of being powerless.”
Davis and six of her neighbors were left without power for nearly a week. With no response from the trucking company and temperatures climbing, they decided to act.
“With these unseasonably hot temperatures, we couldn’t endure another day without electricity,” Davis said.
The group hired a private electrician to make the necessary repairs, which cost them close to $20,000 a bill they believe 6G Transport should cover.
Davis said she reached out to the company several times and spoke with the owner but got no clear answers.
“He wasn’t sure if he was at fault,” Davis said. “He even suggested that CenterPoint might be responsible because the lines were too low or that the city should have posted signage.”
In a statement, CenterPoint Energy said it responded to the outage on May 9, noting the damage was caused by a third party and impacted both their equipment and customer-owned systems.
“CenterPoint repaired the damage to its equipment, and once repairs were made to the customer-owned equipment, power was restored,” the company said. “While we understand the frustration and burden placed on the customers as a result of this incident, CenterPoint is not responsible for damage to customer-owned equipment caused by a third party unrelated to CenterPoint’s operations.”
After not getting any clear answers from 6G Transport, Davis contacted attorney Derrell Wright, who says the trucking company should have exercised more caution when navigating such a tight residential area.
“Usually, high-profile vehicles like that should use extreme caution, especially in areas with low-hanging trees and power lines,” Wright said.
He’s currently in contact with the company’s insurance provider and has given them one week to respond before pursuing legal action.
KPRC 2 contacted 6G Transport for comment but did not receive a response.
