Harris County leaders preparing for potential Tropical Depression
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Jeff Lindner with Harris County Flood Control District said now is the time for families to prepare and have a plan in place as this year's hurricane season is expected to be active.
Lindner said his team has been coordinating with several departments, including Harris County OEM, on how crews will plan to respond to severe storm or hurricane amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Every year we know we're going to have hurricane season. We know we could potentially have threats, and so, we started preparing for this in the spring time and the early summer time," Lindner said. "Of course, this year we have already had two near-misses here out in the upper Texas coast with Cristobal back in June and Hurricane Hanna just a few weeks ago. So, we've kind of already been through the motions of what we need to do to make sure we have our staffing plans in place, and to make sure we have our communication in place."
He said it's important for people to be weather aware and to check in for weather updates multiple times a day over the weekend. He also recommends for people to sign up for Ready Harris alerts.
"I just want to make sure people understand as we go into the next week, we are not looking at a Harvey situation," Lindner said. "But we could be looking at wind impacts, power outages, and we could certainly be looking at some degree of flooding, but we're not looking at anything near the level of Harvey."
He said families need to have a plan, build a kit packed with masks and hand sanitizer and avoid driving on streets with water on the roadway.
"What we recommend for everybody who is staying in place that you have at least five to seven days supplies of what you and each person in your family needs to get through that time," Lindner said.
Harris County's website says residents who live in an evacuation zone need to learn their evacuation routes and follow instructions from local authorities to determine if your home is located in an evacuation zone.
