Texas mega pastor Joel Osteen offers help to Beryl victims as Houston is slammed with heatwave in double-punch after hurricane

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Texas televangelist Joel Osteen has turned his mega church into a cooling station after Beryl left millions in Houston without power-- including no air conditioning and the ability to cook food. 

Beryl came on shore as a Category 1 hurricane, dumping inches of rain on America's fourth largest city and battering it with +90 mph winds.

Fierce winds knocked out electricity to 2.7 million customers in the Houston area Monday. 

Although electric crews were pre-staged to get to work as soon as the storm moved away, power is still out for 1.6 million, according to state officials who shared a storm update Tuesday afternoon.

Osteen's Lakewood Church opened up as a cooling station Tuesday morning, the congregation announced on its social media feeds. 

Clayton Hurst moves a pallet of water as he and other staff at Lakewood Church operate a cooling station and water distribution line in Houston Tuesday

'Lakewood will serve as a cooling and water distribution center, and safe haven for anyone in need,' the church tweeted. 

'We are also mobilizing our relief teams across the city to distribute supplies, emergency response kits and clean up in areas most impacted from the storm.'

Osteen, a common target of online internet trolls, was roasted by Houstonians as Beryl barreled through the city-- despite the pastor's offer to help anyone impacted by Beryl. 

Many still remember the church's highly criticized response to 2017's Hurricane Harvey when several churches opened their doors seven years ago to people needing shelter after larges areas of the city were under feet of water because of Harvey.

Lakewood, a well-funded, 17,000-seat congregation housed in a former basketball arena, seemed to only responded after criticism started pouring in.

Staff at Lakewood Church hand out water and operate a cooling station in Houston

Jose Gutierrez and his grandson Kamen Gutierrez walk to a cooling station at Lakewood Church

Houston resident Tiffany Guerra charges her cell phone and spends time with her dog Finn at a cooling station in Houston, Tuesday

By Tuesday, Houstonians had turned their anger at Centerpoint, the local electric company, and at state officials.  

'The city of Houston is supposed to be the "Energy Capital of the World", so why does a Cat 1 storm like #Beryl leave us for that power for half a week? It's been 24 hours. Fix it,' said X user @FOWLKON_39.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott carries on with a pre-planned economic trip to Asia, tried to reassure the public that the state was working as quickly as possible to get the lights turned back on.

 Patrick revealed 11,500 extra lineman to add to force of 1,675 to get power back on as quickly as possible during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

'We expect to see about a million customers get power by tomorrow, and then more each day, but it's going to be a multiple day recovery,' Patrick added. 

Power had been restored to at least 836,000 residents who lost power Monday, officials explained. 

CenterPoint Energy crew members work to repair damaged lines as residents remained without power after a severe storm caused widespread damage in Houston, Texas

However, the lack of power meant many residents were without the ability to cook food. 

The power outage impact residences and business alike-- meaning many locals who ventured out of their homes looking for food found shuttered restaurants as well.

Even US Senator Ted Cruz, dubbed "Cancun Cruz" after fleeing the Lone Star State during a 2021 ice storm that left the state without power and killed at least 700 people, whined that he slept on a buddy's couch since he, too, was without power.

'I know there are a lot of people who are facing the heat, who are facing difficulties feeding their families, and we need to make sure that moves as expeditiously as possible,' Cruz said.

President Biden approved a federal emergency disaster declaration for Texas following Beryl's lashing.