Tomorrow, residents and elected officials can hear more about emergency response measures the city has been taking, including the disaster declaration issued Feb. 1, to help everyone recover from last week.
At the regular meeting Feb. 9 Fire Chief Daniel Baum will make a presentation to the City Council on the city’s Emergency Management Plan, Emergency Operations Center, and response to the storm.
Public Information Officer Stacey Osborne said last week Baum is the Emergency Operations Coordinator for the center, which was activated Tuesday, Jan. 31, and he has been leading twice daily meetings for the recovery efforts.
“He gives us the lowdown on what is happening in the city and has everyone give a report,” Osborne said.
As a part of the presentation Thursday night, Baum will discuss the disaster declaration and how it will help the city with its emergency response efforts.
Mayor Brandt Rydell said in a prepared statement last week he issued the declaration to help the city take any necessary measures to keep the city safe, mobilize resources and funds for assistance to those who were harmed by the storm, and to apply for state and federal disaster relief as it become available.
Tree removal
In the meantime, city crews have completed work on the clearing roads of fallen trees and branches in our area, and are offering different options to residents, free of charge, for limb removal from the curbs.
“For the most part, all roads, from curb to curb, or edge of pavement to edge of pavement, are clear now,” said Public Works Director Jim Gray in an interview Feb. 7. “And the city has crews who are removing branches from the curb, and they need to move them to the curb for the city to pick them up.”
Residents are permitted to bring their wood directly to the city facility located at 1200 Welch St., but they must contain branches only, no leaves, plastic bags or trash, Gray said.
“As of today, we have three units removing wood from the curbs, and we anticipate this going on for three to four weeks,” Gray said.
Electricity
As of Monday evening, Feb. 6, Oncor Electric Delivery said power had been restored for almost everyone after the storm.
“We have completed restoration for those who can safely accept power for the winter storm—we completed that yesterday evening,” said Kerri Dunn, an Oncor spokeswoman Feb. 7. “The outages that you are seeing now are potentially from the wind yesterday or from any other reason that could come with a power loss, so car accident, wildlife, new vegetation, that sort of thing.”
Dunn said there still may be individuals who do not have power after the storm because it cannot be restored safely.
“There still could be individuals who can’t have power restored to their home because there is damage to their home equipment, like to their meter base or to their weather head, so for those individuals, they will need to hire an electrician to perform the repairs and then confirm with their city if their city requires an inspection or not. It typically is, but after winter storms many cities waive their inspection requirements.”
Baum confirmed Feb. 7 that the city is allowing residents to move forward with these repairs without inspections.
Once residents have made repairs and are safely able to get their power reconnected, Dunn said they can call Oncor, who can send someone out there.
Osborne said the utility had been a good partner to the city throughout this ordeal.
“We appreciate the support of Oncor,” she said. “Everyone has been yelling about them, but they really have been responsive to our needs, and we really appreciate them.”
Community comes together
In addition, Osborne said the community’s response to this disaster has been gratifying.
“We really appreciate the residents’ patience,” she said. “You always have people who are angry and upset because it’s a terrible situation, but in general, everyone has been very patient and helpful as we are trying to make our way through the city and clean up debris and try to pay attention to all the things that need to be paid attention to, so we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding.”
