State Rep. Dennis Paul provided the following information:
Tropical Storm Harvey Advisory
CenterPoint Energy urges customers to be prepared for potential flooding and issues important electric and natural gas safety tips.
CenterPoint Energy has been closely monitoring and preparing for Harvey, which is expected to make landfall Friday afternoon. The company urges customers to follow important pre-and post-storm electric and natural gas safety tips.
Electric
Stay away from downed power lines. Be especially mindful of downed lines that could be hidden in flood waters and treat all downed lines as if they are energized.
If you experience flooding and water has risen above the electrical outlets in your home, contact a licensed electrician before turning on the main circuit breaker or trying to restore power.
All electrical appliances and electronic equipment that have been submerged in water need to dry thoroughly for at least one week. Then, have them checked by a qualified repair person before turning them on. Attempting to repair a flood-damaged appliance could result in electrical shock or death. Attempting to restart it could result in further damage and costly repairs.If the outside unit of an air conditioning system has been under water, mud and water may have accumulated in the controls. Have the unit checked by a qualified air conditioning technician.
Natural Gas
Do not turn off your natural gas service at the meter; doing so could allow water to enter the natural gas lines. Instead, turn off the natural gas at each appliance.
Be alert for the smell of natural gas. If you smell gas, leave the area immediately on foot and tell others to leave, too.
If you smell gas, do not turn the lights on or off, smoke, strike a match, use a cell phone or operate anything that might cause a spark, including a flashlight or a generator.
Do not attempt to turn natural gas valves on or off. Once safely away from the area, call 888-876-5786 and CenterPoint Energy will send a trained service technician.
If your home was flooded, call a licensed plumber or gas appliance technician to inspect your appliances and gas piping to make sure they are in good operating condition before calling CenterPoint Energy to reconnect service. This includes outdoor gas appliances including pool heaters, gas grills and gas lights.
Before cleaning debris, digging on your property or to locate underground natural gas lines and other underground utility lines, call 811, the nationwide Call Before You Dig number.
Be aware of where your natural gas meter is located. As debris is put out for heavy trash pickup, make sure it is placed away from the meter. In many areas the meter may be located near the curb. If debris is near a gas meter, the mechanized equipment used by trash collectors could pull up the meter, damaging it and causing a potentially hazardous situation. If this happens, leave the area immediately and call CenterPoint Energy at 888-876-5786.
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs Information
If you have disaster-related requests for food, clothing, evacuation/transportation assistance, or other immediate assistance, please reach out to the following numbers:
The American Red Cross: (http://www.redcross.org/find-help) or call toll free 1-866-438-4636; or
2-1-1 Texas (http://www.211texas.org) or dial 2-1-1 or call toll free 1-877-541-7905.Additional disaster resources are available on the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs website at http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/disaster-resources/index.htm, or by clicking on the Disaster Relief Resources box in the right navigation bar of the TDHCA home page at www.tdhca.state.tx.us.
Ready Harris Website Information
REGIONAL JOINT INFORMATION CENTER
The Regional Joint Information Center (JIC) is your best source for timely and accurate information when emergency conditions exist in the greater Harris County area. The JIC is a collaboration between regional emergency management partner organizations designed to keep you informed before, during and after emergencies.
It was a Friday night. I’m in my garage in Meyerland watching my street flood as I piddled around on one of my old cars. A new VW with an Asian couple tried to make it and piled up on my yard as their car sputtered to a floating stop on my side of the sidewalk.
I had a bunch of friends at Club Hey Hey that kept calling me saying come on out! It’s fine! Finally about 9pm we ventured out and sure enough my street was the only flooded one I came across until I rounded the curve to I-10 East from 610. I was in the right lane on I-10 sitting in traffic when a cop came over, sized up my Blazer and said, “meh, you’re high enough. Go to the left along the barrier and you’ll make it.”
I made it as far as the Polo Club before you get to the railroad bridge that crossed I-10. Coming up the inbound lanes was a traffic jam of cars and trucks, some backing up, trying to get to higher ground as the water rose. A few made it but there was too many and the headlights went underwater.
We slept in my brand new car that night with cars and semis all around. Huge rain. I got out about 1am and it was worse. Got out early before the sun rose and all was calm except for the infernal air releases from the semis. It was flooded deep ahead of us and I walked back to 610 and I-10 was underwater there too. Probably 12′ deep.
At daybreak I saw some of the most bizarre things. A family of hispanics in a regular cab pick-up with a baby were dealing with the consequences of having a hungry baby that had shat everywhere. I saw a knocked out bone thin white couple obviously passed out OD’s in their car. We never did rouse them while I was there but they moved around in their slumber so nobody bothered them. A very fancy dressed asian lady in silk flowing regalia was sitting in her dead Mercedes. She ran it out of gas. A well dressed black guy in a Lexus had watched his TV all night and had a dead battery.
A lot of dead cars and a lot of people trying to figure out how to get out. I helped a couple of cops that also got stranded direct traffic. One was the guy that told me I could through the night before. We had a good laugh. I ended up staying for a couple of hours and even directed my wife out of the mess because every car we moved typically allowed another one or two to get free. That whole section was emptied through a tiny opening in the barriers that allowed one car at a time to sneak through to the outbound lanes.
When it was all over my friends and I compared notes of the evening. All of them were stranded somewhere between Washington Ave. and SW Houston. All of them had flooded cars. None of them made it home before I did. I actually look back on it fondly as it was fun to be helpful to so many people that Saturday morning.
meh, I guess I live on the Braeburn Ridge. An imperceptible bluff on the prairie that is interrupted by Braes Bayou.
DanMan,
Glad to hear you made it through okay. We did too.
DJ
On my block we had four out 27 houses get wet during the Memorial Day flood a couple of years ago. Most of our houses were built in the 50s and 60s and none had flooded before that. I think I may be one of four now that hasn’t flooded.
What is really odd is a couple of them got 3′ this time. Wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it. There can’t be more than 4″ elevation difference from one end to the other. My neighborhood recorded 37.6″ from Friday to Tuesday.