TEXAS – Frustrations are mounting across southeast Texas as residents enter a fourth day of crippling power outages and heat, a combination that has proven dangerous – and at times deadly – as some struggle to access food, gas and medical care.

Nearly 1.3 million homes and businesses across the region are still without power after Beryl slammed into the Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, leaving at least 11 people dead across Texas and Louisiana. The storm continues to threaten flooding Thursday in New England. Gov. Greg Abbott has requested an investigation of CenterPoint Energy – Houston’s primary utility company that is responsible for restoring the vast majority of outages – and electric companies in the wake of the outages, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said during a news conference Thursday.

The investigation will look into what the problems were in the utilities’ response to Hurricane Beryl. “I’m sure we will find that there are things they could have done better,” Patrick said.  Many residents are sheltering with friends or family who have power, but some can’t afford to leave their homes, Houston City Councilman Julian Ramirez told CNN Wednesday. And while countless families have lost food in their warming fridges, many stores are still closed, leaving government offices, food banks and other public services scrambling to distribute food to underserved areas, he said.

As residents desperately try to cool their homes with generators, carbon monoxide poisoning has become a serious concern. At least two people have died in Harris County from carbon monoxide poisoning and fire departments have received more than 200 carbon monoxide poisoning calls in 24 hours, local officials said. Beyond that, a 71-year-old woman died near Crystal Beach after her oxygen machine ran out of battery power and her generator shut down. (CNN)…[+]