Ike: City Manager's Message
10/21/08 We are aware that some of you are still waiting on insurance adjusters and the like. We will do our best to work with you. But please remember, if you have a contractor remove a tree, put up a fence or do other repairs it is the contractors responsibility to haul that material to the landfill. If you have any questions, please call our public works department at 415-2430. We opened bids last week for the burning or chipping of the tree debris we collected – over 125,000 cubic yards! The trench burning was the most cost effective. Done properly there should be little smoke from those burn pits. There will be three of these going. While the contract goes through the middle of December, our goals is to be done a lot sooner than that. Several of us were in Angleton yesterday to meet with FEMA for possible reimbursements for our storm related costs. The next step is for an individual meeting here at City Hall. Remember, if you need to talk with FEMA or with the State Department of Insurance (if you have having problems with your insurance company) please come to the Disaster Recovery Center at the Civic Center. Representative Dennis Bonnen has been appointed by Governor Perry to serve on the House Select Committee on Hurricane Ike Storm Devastation to the Texas Gulf Coast. I am sure Dennis would want to hear your concerns and suggestions on the handling of this storm and for future storms. The Mayor and I have already written the Governor, Speaker of the Texas House and others related to, among other things, electrical restoration plans and policies. We will also will be meeting with Centerpoint to discuss this. A big thank you to First United Methodist Church for bringing all those cookies for our city workers last night at the council meeting. Your cards and cookies are very much appreciated. Well, it is up to Angleton for an after action review with the other Emergency Management Coordinators today. I hope everyone has a great week. Bill
We are in to our final week of Ike debris removal. Then we will return to our “normal” routine. We will still work with residents on a case by case basis of obvious storm debris, but for the most part we will resume our regular schedule for heavy trash pickup.
10/13/08 9:00 am
It has now been a month since Hurricane Ike made landfall. Watching the storm plough through our area and then surveying the damage as daylight broke that Saturday morning I thought it would take us about four months to clean up the damage. But, we set a goal to get it all cleaned up in two months. Well, we have done better than that! We finished our second pass through the city last week. We are starting our final “Ike” pass this week. We will get the south side of town (our regular Tuesday-Friday schedule) this week and the north side (the Monday-Thursday route) next week. I noticed a few large piles of debris appear over the weekend as some resident were finally able to get a chance to clean up.
This week we open bids to chip and/or burn the debris we have been storing on the old landfill. Council will hold a special meeting Thursday at 5pm to approve their bids and get the work going. It should take us a couple of weeks to chip/burn the debris.
It is amazing how quickly things are returning to normal. People are getting damaged roofs and fences repaired and that will still take awhile. But overall things are looking pretty good.
I think we all agree that we were blessed to have been spared the horrific damage that our neighbors on the beach and to our east suffered. There are still relief efforts going on to help those who lost so much. Many of you are already reaching out to help your neighbors and I applaud you for that.
Again, the FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at the Civic Center is open Monday – Saturday from 10 am – 7pm and Sunday afternoon’s from 1pm – 6pm.
Once again I thank all our volunteers and employees for the remarkable job they have done in preparing for, responding to, and recovery from Hurricane Ike.
I believe this storm has helped to bring us closer together as neighbors and as a community. I hope we never lose that. Ike didn’t weaken us, he strengthened us. I hope everyone has a great week.
Bill
10/8/08 2:00 pm
FEMA has reconsidered and is now opening a Disaster Recovery Center at the Lake Jackson Civic Center 1pm tomorrow (10/9/08). It is my understanding that their hours will be 9am – 6pm, 7 days a week until further notice. This center is for anyone filing a claim for individual assistance. By now, anyone seeking individual assistance should have already registered with FEMA. Anyway, we are grateful that FEMA has opened this location to service the people of Southern Brazoria County. Previously the only location was in Pearland.
We will be completing our second sweep through town for tree debris by this coming Saturday. We will then move our contractor into our parks and parkways to get those cleaned up. Then we will, using city crews, make our final “Ike” debris removal pass through town. We should be done mid-month. We are trying to get back to regular maintenance, especially mowing. But that will be a little while still, as we are using our city mowing crews to pick up debris – our contract mowers are, however, on the job.
Roofs of several city building, especially our Recreation Center and Museum, suffered damage. At the Recreation Center this has caused our wood floors to buckle in places. So, we have some significant repair work ahead of us.
Our inspections department has issued over 240 “Ike” permits and the flow is steady as adjusters and insurance company’s process claims. Remember we are waiving permit fees for Ike related damage. Now, if you decide you want to put in a new addition to your home at the same time, that will be charged a fee.
We have also delayed water cut offs a little longer. But please realize you are ultimately responsible to pay your bill – we are just trying to give you time to get your feet back on the ground.
Again, I estimate our city response to the storm (evacuation, debris removal, emergency operations) will cost us about $1.5 million to $2.0 million. Building/roof damage to some of our facilities may alter that number. We do expect insurance to cover some of the building damage and FEMA to cover much of our emergency response and debris removal costs. But, we will still be out money. This is what we have been saving for over the years and we should be able to cover any unreimbursed costs with our fund balances. I do not anticipate any tax or fee increase as a result of paying for Ike expenses. This, again, is what we have been saving and preparing for.
It will be nice to have this debris removed and our grounds mowed again and looking good.
Bill
10/3/08 10:00 am
It’s been about 20 days now since Hurricane Ike roared into town during the wee hours of Saturday, September 13. Getting out at first light to see the damage we realized that we had been spared the worst, but there was an awful lot of damage – especially to our trees. As you know about 526 buildings sustained some level of damage, with 82 of these being considered “major”. Our first thoughts were that it would take us about 4 months to clean up. While it took too long for many for Centerpoint to get their power up, I am pleased with the rapid progress we have made in cleaning up the debris (we estimate 125,000 cubic yards of just tree debris). We have now started our second pass, and this will include picking up non-organic debris this go around. After another pass or two through town, we should have debris removal complete. We will then chip/burn the tree debris. That will take a couple of weeks as well. So, by the time we all sit down for Thanksgiving dinner next month we will indeed be able to give thanks for missing the worst of the storm and for our quick recovery…and, most importantly, that our families and friends came through this storm safe and sound.
We are asking that everyone set the last of their debris out to the curb this weekend.
As a city, our citizens have showed remarkable poise, resiliency and resolve in recovering from Ike. We have all simply rolled up our sleeves and gone about the task of putting our city back in order.
This will be the last of the daily updates I make to the website. I hope these have been helpful. Thank you for putting up with my ramblings. We will continue to update the site as new information becomes available. And, that will include another message from time to time from me, pointing out some important information.
Again, the recovery continues and there will probably be a few bumps in the road ahead. But I believe the worst is well behind us and brighter days are ahead.
Bill
10/02/08 10:30 am
Morning everyone, what another glorious day.
We expect to finish our first pass through of town picking up tree debris today. The Mayor made a Connect CTY call last evening asking everyone to get their remaining debris to the curb this coming weekend. We will begin our second pass through town. Again, we hope to be cleared of debris by mid-October.
It is amazing what amount of debris Ike has generated. Our Public Works Department estimates that we will end up collecting 125,000 cubic yards of green (should I say brown!) debris. We have already collected about 80,000 cubic yards. All this is being stored on top of our old landfill (near the wastewater plant). We are opening bids next week to chip and/or burn this debris. Council is scheduled to award the bids on October 20th and then it will take a couple of weeks to chip and/or burn this debris.
We are working to get our damaged city facilities repaired. And, we will be working to clean up our parks and ballfields and make repairs there as well.
We have been notified that FEMA and the State do not intend to open an Individual Assistance Center at the Civic Center. For now the only center open in the County is in Pearland. Our County Officials are appealing this decision. We will wait and see.
So, our Recreation Center opens up at 8:00 am on Saturday, October 4 and our Civic Center opens back up for business on Monday, October 6. We will likely hold back renting the plaza rooms at the Civic Center until we get a final answer from FEMA about a DRC (Disaster Recovery Center).
The County arranged a conference call and we have made initial contact with FEMA about potential reimbursement for our costs in preparing for and recovering from the storm. This will be a lengthy process, but we have kept meticulous records.
The Mayor and I also had a chance to sit down with representatives of industry to discuss what went right and wrong during this process. It also gives us a chance to thank them for their outstanding assistance during this event.
Finally, a great big thanks to our business community for getting back up and operating in record time. I know times are tough, but please patronize our local businesses because what you spend here stays here, and that helps us all.
Bill
10/01/08 10:30 a.m.
Centerpoint estimates only 1% or 72 customers in the 77566 zip code still remain without power. Since this zip code covers areas outside our city limits I do not know how many, if any, of our residents remain without power. Again, if you or some one you know does not have power please call Centerpoint at 713-207-2222 or 800-332-7143.
We are saying goodbye to the linemen that have been housed at the Recreation Center, Civic Center and St. Michael’s Church. Again, we wish these fine people a safe journey home to their families. Today I’d like to thank the fine people of St. Michael’s Church for stepping up to help us house these linemen. What an exceptional showing of community spirit. Also, we need to thank the many residents, organizations and school children who made treats for these hardworking men and women. You exemplify the spirit of gratefulness and hospitality.
In fact so many have stepped up to help. Our faith based community has been outstanding as always from the swarms of yellow shirted Mormons who came in and cleaned the property of those in need, first responders busy in their jobs and cleaning our parks; to the Baptist men and the Salvation Army cooking and distributing meals. Many of the churches provided meals, water, ice and a cool place for people to rest for awhile, these included the Church of Christ on Yaupon, Hope Fellowship and our friends at St. Michael’s again. The Ministerial Alliance and its member churches have helped restock food pantries, volunteered at shelters and helped those in need. By mentioning names I know this gray headed old guy will leave some church or group out – so please understand that my thanks and that of our City go to everyone who stood up and helped. This includes the LJI teacher who taught children at one of the Angleton Shelters, to the teenage children of our employees who answered phones at the emergency operations center, distributed information to residents and worked the POD. This includes the neighbors who cut up other neighbors downed trees and helped them clean up. Those who welcomed people into their homes, who shared meals, who offered a shoulder to lean on. So many have stepped up and shown that incredible human attribute of compassion and caring. In a cynical world you have all shown the best that we can be even when things are at their worst.
Another day brings us closer to full recovery. Those huge piles of debris are disappearing, roofs are being fixed and fences are going back up.
And finally, you can’t help but feel better when you walk out each morning to the glorious weather we have been experiencing.
Bill
9/30/08 11:30 am
According to Centerpoint we are now down to individual properties that are left without power. They are asking that those without power contact 713-207-2222 or 800-332-7143. If you know of anyone in this predicament, please help us get them this information.
Debris removal is going well and our first pass through town should be done by Friday. Then we will move our city crews to picking up other non-organic material that has been put out, while our contractor, Matula & Matula, starts the second pass through the city collecting tree debris. Again, we hope to complete debris removal by mid-October. So, please get your debris placed at the curb for collection.
People are working hard all over town fixing up their homes and businesses. Your City was not immune from damage, especially to our park and ballfield facilities. Our Recreation Center roof was damaged, as was the roof at the Museum. We received some damage to City Hall’s roof and damage to several Lift Stations. But all-in-all it could have been a lot worse.
Our linemen are starting to leave and the final group will leave Thursday or Friday of this week. Again, we thank them for coming to us in our time of need.
There are some important FEMA Meetings being held today and tomorrow. Please click the link for times and locations. We hope to host a meeting in the future, but our Civic Center has been occupied by our friends from Centerpoint. Again, eventually we hope to have a FEMA Individual Assistance Center opened in our Civic Center in time. We are trying to work out the details.
The weather has been beautiful and let’s hope this is a good omen for our continuing recovery.
Bill.
9/29/08 10:00 am
In talking with Centerpoint this morning, less than 200 properties are without power.. Most of these were in the Parkwood Terrace Subdivision (Palm, Wisteria, Carnation, etc). I was told crews would be in that area this morning and power should be restored around noon today.
Now if an individual still does not have power today they are asked to call Centerpoint at 713-207-2222 or 800-332-7143.
Centerpoint has indicated the linemen we have been hosting will leave our facilities on Wednesday. Then we will have crews in cleaning up the Civic Center through the weekend.
We are in talks with FEMA and the State to potentially host an Individual Assistance Center at the Civic Center once the Centerpoint crews are gone. We will let you know if this all works out.
Our city crews and the crews from our contractor, Matula and Matula, will be heavily in to the center part of the city this week cleaning debris. Once this first pass through is complete, we will start another pass through the city. Again, we hope to complete 2-3 passes through the city by mid-October.
While we are grateful 95% of the city has power, we won’t be satisfied until that number is 100%. Also, once this is all over we will be having discussions with Centerpoint and our State Officials about what needs to be done for the future to improve the restoration of power.
With all that said, we do thank all these hard working linemen who have come from all over the county to help us. God bless you and have a safe trip home to your families.
Bill
9/26/08 10:00 am
While the Centerpoint website still puts us with some 39% of the 77566 zip code out of power, we were getting reports all day yesterday and this morning that more and more neighborhoods had power. That is great news. But none of us will be satisfied until everyone is with power.
Please be careful around these downed power lines. As circuits come up these may become “hot”. Particularly you need to warn your children about touching any lines. We have also had incidents when people have stacked papers and other items on stoves while there was no power, then the power comes on and a burner is on. Luckily neighbors have spotted this before a home is lost. So please, make sure you are ‘ready” for your power to come back on.
We have now cleared over 50% of the City of debris and should have our first pass complete by the end of next week. Then we will start our second pass.
Between the Mosquito District, the City and these planes from the State/Feds we hope to knock these pesky mosquitoes down. But after that high tide early this week, I fear another outbreak coming next week.
The cool weather is a blessing and I hope it stays around for awhile.
One thing I have been noticing is that some people are driving almost in a ‘frantic’ mode. Folks slow down! It will be a while before all traffic lights are back in full operation – especially those controlled by the State along our highways. At darkened intersections treat them as four way stops and be patient. With all this debris around, kids and cars can appear suddenly from driveways – so be cautious – especially in our residential areas.
We are now at the two week mark since Ike came into our lives. We have learned some valuable lessons, some good, some bad, but we have learned. Now we simply need to improve on what we have learned.
There are so many people who have worked so hard during Ike and during this recovery period. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. We will have a ways to go in cleaning up and fixing up, but we are well on our way.
Bill
9/25/08 11:30 am
We saw a lot of activity from Centerpoint yesterday in town, but our percentages of who has power did not change. We saw them working on some of the major feeds, especially along Oyster Creek Drive. Again, their estimate of 80% restoration has been moved to Sunday.
Representative Dennis Bonnen hosted a meeting at the college this morning of area officials and members of the House Leadership, including Speaker Craddick. We are very grateful to Dennis for putting this meeting together. We definitely bent their ears about the difficulties with power restoration and the need for better planning, oversight and execution. The Mayor sat at Speaker Craddick’s table while I was fortunate to sit with the speakers staff member who handles electricity issues for the Speaker - we had a thorough conversation.
Also, there is help coming on the mosquito front. In addition to the County Mosquito District planes and spray trucks and the City’s two spray trucks, the Feds have sent 5 spray planes that are at our County airport. They will be spraying from 10 pm to 6 am beginning tonight along the coastal areas. This should really help.
We are still moving along with debris removal and will be in the central part of the City the next 7 to 10 days now. We awarded a bid to Matula and Matula to assist our city crews with debris removal. In fact, as you know, Matula and other fine contractors (Novus, Sorrell, BEARS) were helping us under our emergency powers.
Mercifully some cool weather has returned, but people still want their power on and want it on now. It has now been 13 days since we lost power to the City and 40% of our citizens are still struggling without it. It can’t come on soon enough for those who have been waiting so long.
Finally, we have been in contact with advance people from FEMA and the State of Texas about getting an assistance center for citizens. Hopefully we can work out a location here in Lake Jackson. We will see.
Bill
9/24/08 9:00 am
Another slow day in getting power back on. The official estimate from Centerpoint is that 60% of the city now has power. And their estimate for ‘substantial’ completion (which I think they define as 80% restoration) has been pushed to Sunday, September 28. They are back to their original estimate of 2-3 weeks for repairs.
I think most people could bear this if they simply knew what the schedule was and when they could expect to see activity in their area. But that information simply is not available. Just after the storm, officials with Centerpoint said that they would first send in inspectors, then tree/debris cutters and then finally line crews. Most of you have shown remarkable patience, others have reached their limit. Please however understand that the City does not control or direct the activities of Centerpoint. Getting angry at city employees (many of which also still have no power) does no one any good. Again, we do not control Centerpoint or their activities. To say Centerpoint’s public communication is poor is an understatement. What I do know is that these linemen we are housing are exhausted at the end of the day. If it was within my power to direct them to restore our City’s power first I would have already done that – but it is not.
What we do control are our city services, all of which have been functioning without fail throughout this ordeal – these include water, sewer, sanitation, Police, Fire and EMS.
Debris removal is proceeding at a good clip. We are nearly 50% complete for our first pass through town. By the end of this week we should be full force in the center part of our city. Once we have completed this first full pass (sometime in the next 7-10 days) we will make a couple of more passes through town to get that which was put out after our initial pass.
Also, because of all of the debris we will be “estimating” water bills this month. We will be making corrections once we can reach and read all the meters.
It was good to see the kids back in school in a cool environment with a good hot lunch.
The Ministerial Alliance and the cities are working to continue to provide locations for food and supplies. We are very grateful for the volunteer community spirit of our faith community and our community service organizations.
Bill
9/23/08 9:00 am
This morning just over one half of our city woke up with power, while 46% are still struggling without. The 50% milestone is progress, but we all want to see everyone’s power restored quickly. School starts today and that will get our kids back into a semblance of normal routine.
With all the brush piled up we urge all drivers to be especially careful as there are many “blindspots” and children are walking in the streets because of debris covering the sidewalks.
Debris removal continues as we have completed over 40% of the city with our initial pass through town. Not only do we thank our marvelous city crews for their efforts, but we also thank your friends from Matula and Matula, Novus, Sorrell’s and BEARS for doing a fantastic job of helping us collect and remove debris.
And to our exceptional citizens – you have been remarkable. You have quickly gone about the business of cleaning and repairing your property. You have reached out and helped one another. Strangers are now friends and friends are now closer than ever. Those of you still without power have shown exceptional patience. Please know that we are continuing to push Centerpoint to get our entire city back on. There are “cool off” locations at several local churches. Please take advantage of these.
We hope another day brings more power to our city.
Bill
9/22/08 9:30 am
Well, the weekend didn’t net us as much progress on the power front as we had hoped. Centerpoint did focus on getting power to our schools so students can report to their regular campuses on Tuesday (9/23). We are in regular contact with Centerpoint and continue to press to get power restored to our City. We are still housing some 1,100 linesmen at our city facilities.
Debris removal continues and will for many months. Please separate your tree debris from your other debris. Also, we have drop off locations for debris if you are able to haul off your own material.
I know everyone’s patience is running very thin, but most of us did not receive damage to our homes and businesses – for that we are very grateful.
9/20/08 - 9:00 a.m.
It was encouraging to see those 1,000 electrical lineman in town. Again, we hope to see much progress this weekend. Officially we are still being told power restoration won’t be back until later next week. But, we can always hope.
Our crews will be out in force today (Saturday 9/20) before getting a day off on Sunday to give them a chance to check out their homes and settle their families. They will be back at it early Monday morning.
School is scheduled to start Tuesday and information on where students will be going is on our web site. Now we transition from an emergency operation to a debris removal and recovery process. We still estimate about 4 months to get everything cleaned up. But we are on our way.
Bill
William P Yenne
City Manager
9/19/08 5:00 p.m.
The advance Centerpoint people arrived and turned our Recreation Center and Civic Center into large dormitories for these 1,000 lineman who will be staying here for the next 7 to 10 days. Again, we hope that lots of progress will be made this weekend.
We are really moving a lot of debris. We estimate we have collected debris from about 22% of the City. We will run the crews Saturday, but will give them a much deserved rest on Sunday so they can finally go to their homes and begin cleaning up their property. Then we will be back at it again starting Monday.
Again, City Hall is open this Saturday from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.
We will bring our special needs people back Saturday. Once this is done we will begin to transition from our emergency operations to a debris removal and recovery operation.
Again, we hope that Centerpoint makes better progress this weekend.
9/19/08
The good news is that Centerpoint is sending 1,000 lineman into Southern Brazoria County today (9/19) and tomorrow. We will help house then at our Recreation Center, Civic Center and some schools as they work to restore power to our area. In this regard we saw some progress yesterday. We are finally off generator power at the PD, Fire Department and City Hall. Parts of downtown came on as did some residential areas. There is still a massive task ahead, but with all these lineman coming we are extremely hopeful that significant progress can be made this weekend.
City crews and contractors continue the daunting task of cutting up and picking up debris. This process will take many, many months.
The POD Site at Brazoswood received little traffic yesterday and is being moved to where the need is greater. More and more stores are opening and levels of goods and supplies are improving.
We will bring home our special needs evacuees this Saturday and can’t thank the people of Bell County enough for taking care of our citizens during this time of need. There is a special place in heaven for such angels of mercy.
Now its back to the sound of chain saws and heavy equipment – the sounds of recovery.
Bill
William P Yenne
City Manager
9/18/08
We don't have to tell you that electrictal restoration has been very slow. We still only have about 20-25% of the city with power. The official statement from Centerpoint is that our city will not see major electrical restoration until after Monday, September 22. We hope this is a pessimistic assessment and that improvement comes more quickly. Our city complex (PD, Fire/EMS, City Hall) is still on generator power.
Debris cutting and removal by our crews and contractors continues full force.
The Brazoswood High School POD Site is still up and running. However, more and more grocery stores are beginning to reopen, albeit with limited supplies. Fuel availability is improving.
City Hall is open from 7-7 today and tomorrow and 9-2 on Saturday to assist residents. We have two computers set up in the lobby for residents wanting to register with FEMA online.
Please no burning in town. We know some county residents are burning. However, can you just imagine what would happen if these piles of drying brush catch fire? We would never be able to stop it!
So, we start another day - one more step closer to our ultimate goal of returning our City to normal.