Houston Local News in a Hurricane: How to Keep Watching When the Power Goes Out

Houston local news in a hurricane: what keeps working

The only TV that still works when both the power and the internet are out is broadcast TV on a battery-powered set. Everything that arrives through a wire into your house stops when the power does, because the box, the modem and the router all need it.

Beryl showed how long that can last. The storm came ashore near Matagorda on July 8, 2024, and CenterPoint said 2.26 million of its customers lost power. Two days later, about 1.6 million homes and businesses in the Houston area were still dark, and the utility expected around 500,000 to wait into the next week, the Associated Press reported. Cable and home internet go down with the power, and they can stay down after it returns if lines and equipment were damaged.

So plan in layers. Broadcast TV and radio on batteries carry you through the outage. Your phone fills in while the cell network holds up. Streaming and IPTV come back first in homes with a generator, and for everyone else once the power and the line are back.

The Houston stations to tune to

All of Houston's main news stations broadcast free over the air, and the four biggest also stream their storm coverage free. Two of the most watched, ABC 13 and CBS 11, broadcast on VHF, so a small UHF-only antenna can miss them right when you need them.

Channel	Station	Broadcasts on	Free stream
2.1 NBC	KPRC	UHF 35	KPRC 2+ app
8.1 PBS	KUHT, Houston PBS	VHF 8	Check the station site
11.1 CBS	KHOU	VHF 11 (backup on 11.11, UHF)	KHOU 11+ app
13.1 ABC	KTRK	VHF 13	ABC13 Houston app
26.1 FOX	KRIV	UHF 26	FOX LOCAL app
45.1 Univision	KXLN	UHF 30	Check the station site
47.1 Telemundo	KTMD	UHF 22	Check the station site

Broadcast channels from the station list in our Houston TV stations guide, which also explains why ABC 13 vanishes from so many antennas. One backup is worth knowing in a storm: KTBU in Conroe rebroadcasts KHOU on UHF as 11.11, so CBS can still come in when 11.1 drops. Our Houston channel numbers page lists every subchannel.

For news in Spanish, Univision 45 and Telemundo 47 cover the storm from their own newsrooms, and both broadcast on UHF, so they come in on almost any antenna. Our guide to Spanish-language TV in Houston has the full list.

A storm TV kit, set up before June

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, and the time to test your storm TV is a calm afternoon in May. Here is what a working kit looks like:

1. A TV that runs without wall power. A small portable TV with a built-in digital tuner, or a regular TV on a battery power station, gives you live pictures when the grid is down.
2. An antenna that handles VHF. ABC 13, CBS 11 and PBS 8 broadcast on VHF, so the box should say VHF and UHF, not just UHF. Our guide to why Texas channels won't come in on an antenna explains the difference.
3. A channel scan done in advance. Run it with the antenna where it will stay, and write down which channels came in. A scan in the dark, during the storm, is no fun.
4. A NOAA Weather Radio with fresh batteries. More on this below.
5. Power banks for every phone, charged before landfall, plus a car charger as a last resort.

If you run a portable generator, keep it outside and well away from doors and windows. Use it for the fridge, a fan and a small TV, and plug everything in through a heavy-duty outdoor extension cord.

NOAA Weather Radio and KTRH 740 AM

NOAA Weather Radio is the National Weather Service's own 24-hour broadcast of forecasts, watches and warnings. Houston's transmitter is KGG68 in Tomball, on 162.400 MHz, and the NWS Houston/Galveston office also runs transmitters for Galveston, Bay City, College Station, Lake Livingston and New Taiton. A weather radio with SAME alerting can be set to sound only for your county. A SAME code is the six-digit county code the radio listens for; for Harris County it is 048201.

On the regular radio dial, KTRH 740 AM is the station to know. It is the local primary station in Houston's Emergency Alert System, the main entry point that relays official alerts to other stations in Southeast Texas, according to KTRH's station record. An AM radio on batteries can pick it up across the region.

Free Houston news apps and streams

Each of the four big Houston news stations runs a free 24/7 stream, on phones and on streaming sticks, with no cable login.

• ABC13 Houston, from KTRK, on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Samsung TVs, per ABC13's app page.
• KHOU 11+, a free 24/7 stream of breaking news and weather on Roku and Fire TV, described on KHOU's site.
• KPRC 2+, with live newscasts and extended weather coverage, on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV, per KPRC 2.
• FOX LOCAL, where you pick FOX 26 Houston, on phones, Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV and Vizio, according to FOX 26. It carries the station's news, not FOX network shows or NFL games.

On a phone, these streams keep working through a power outage for as long as your battery and the cell network last. Video uses a lot of data, so in a long outage switch to audio or the station's radio simulcast where it offers one, and save the battery for calls.

Alerts to sign up for now

Alerts reach you even when no TV is on, so set them up before a storm is in the Gulf. These are the Harris County ones:

• Ready Harris Alerts and Ready Harris Accessible Alerts, the county's emergency notifications, at ReadyHarris.org. The county also says you can text GULF2026 to 888777 for 2026 hurricane season updates, in a September 2026 Ready Harris release.
• Flood alerts from the Harris County Flood Control District, by text or email when a gauge near you reaches a set water level or rainfall total. Sign up at FWSAlerts.org, as the district explains.
• Wireless Emergency Alerts are the government warnings that pop up on your phone without an app, such as hurricane and flash flood warnings. Check that they are switched on in your phone's notification settings.

If you live outside Harris County, check your county's emergency management website for its own alert sign-up.

When a Houston station went off the air

Even a TV station can lose its signal in a Houston flood, which is why it pays to have more than one source. On August 27, 2017, Harvey's floodwater reached KHOU's first-floor studio near Buffalo Bayou. The anchors moved upstairs, then the building was evacuated, and the station's broadcast went dark for nearly seven hours, Poynter reported. KHOU's reporters kept going live on Facebook the whole time, and the station was back on the air that evening.

Our finding: Houston's last two big storms broke different things. Harvey knocked out a station; Beryl knocked out the power. The setup that covers both has two independent paths. One is an antenna that can find another station when one goes dark. The other is a phone that can still reach a station's stream when the house has no power.

Where IPTV fits, before and after the storm

IPTV is not a hurricane lifeline: like cable and streaming, it needs power and an internet connection. It earns its place on either side of the outage, and for families who leave town.

Our panel catalogue of October 16, 2026 lists the Houston network stations by call sign: ABC 13 (KTRK), CBS 11 (KHOU), NBC 2 (KPRC), FOX 26 (KRIV), CW 39 and My 20, plus Univision and Telemundo Houston. It also carries extra Houston news feeds for ABC13, KHOU 11 and FOX 26, along with The Weather Channel, FOX Weather and AccuWeather.

• Evacuating? If you ride out a storm with family in Dallas or San Antonio, an antenna there only gets their stations. With IPTV on a phone or a Firestick, you can keep watching your own Houston news about your street. Our Firestick setup guide takes one sitting.
• Before landfall, while the power is on, the weather channels and every Houston station in one guide make it easy to follow the track.
• After the power returns, it comes back as soon as your internet does. If channels stutter on a weak post-storm connection, our IPTV troubleshooting guide starts with the quick fixes.

If you are weighing cable against all this, our guide to leaving Xfinity in Houston prices the alternatives. Cable goes down in an outage too, so it doesn't change the storm plan above.

Houston hurricane news FAQ

How can I watch Houston news if the power goes out?

Use a battery-powered TV with an antenna that handles VHF, tuned to KPRC 2, KHOU 11, KTRK 13 or KRIV 26. A phone running a station's free app works too, as long as the battery and the cell network last.

Which Houston stations stream news for free?

All four major ones: ABC13 Houston, KHOU 11+, KPRC 2+ and FOX 26 through the FOX LOCAL app, each with a free 24/7 stream on phones and streaming sticks.

What radio station has emergency alerts in Houston?

KTRH 740 AM. It is the local primary station in Houston's Emergency Alert System and relays official warnings across Southeast Texas.

What is the NOAA Weather Radio frequency for Houston?

162.400 MHz, from transmitter KGG68 in Tomball. Set a SAME weather radio to code 048201 for Harris County alerts.

Has a hurricane ever hit Houston?

Yes, several. Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston in September 2008, and Harvey caused catastrophic flooding in August 2017. Beryl came ashore near Matagorda on July 8, 2024, and left more than 2 million CenterPoint customers without power.

When did Hurricane Harvey hit Houston?

Harvey made landfall near Rockport on August 25, 2017, then stalled over Southeast Texas. Its worst flooding in Houston came over the following days, and KHOU was knocked off the air on August 27.

Is there a power outage in Houston right now?

Check CenterPoint Energy's online outage tracker for your address, or call CenterPoint. During a storm, KTRH 740 AM and the station apps also report outage numbers.

Can I watch Houston news if I evacuate?

Yes. The station apps stream anywhere with a connection, and IPTVZ carries the Houston stations and extra news feeds, so you can follow home from another city.