Lakeway MUD: When natural disasters strike, be prepared
Earl Foster
For the first time in history, the entire state of Texas was recently placed under a record-setting winter storm warning when a frigid Arctic blast gripped much of the country. Across the state, thousands of residents suffered hardships due to loss of power, water pressure and communication (internet and phone) services. Roads were quickly encased in ice, making emergency services slow to respond and personal travel nearly impossible.
But hope was found in the hard-working professionals going above and beyond to restore these services as well as neighbors helping neighbors: sharing what supplies and services they could offer. Although this extreme, rare storm was unpredictable, what can we do to better prepare ourselves when emergencies arise? As an essential services provider, it is a question we address with our team on a regular basis to help protect our infrastructure, staff and customers.
be three feet high. and so there s your home on the ground. and a wave a waffle water comes at you like a tsunami but it is a river. 48 feet high. that came down the river. it is kind of a flood alley. we ve never seen anything like this. we lost hundreds of homes. 12 lives. we found some of the bodies sadly, as far as 35 miles down river. i was there yesterday meeting with residents. and i m always amazed. not just texas. and we have great spirit and great pride and great spunk. you saw wherever there s tragedy, you find people who are ready to rebuild. the neighbors are helping each other. it will be a long recovery for this wonderful little town in the hill country of wimberley and san marcos down river, and a big recovery for dallas and houston and it is still not over as your last report indicated. we just showed the cars on the highway. those images were incredible. you re going to get another half
of that moment all too well. her home located near the blanco river in wimberley. she sent these photos to the newsroom. you can see the trees snapped in half by furry. mary lee here to share some of her story. good morning, carol. thank you for having me on. thank you for being with me. i used to have a house in fairfield, connecticut. the floodwaters came over my front lawn and almost went into my house. i remember feeling so helpless. it s not like you can shut the water off, right? no it s spectacular. they call this flood alley in texas. it s on the portion of texas that has steep hills and very quick build up of water. it was terrifying. but we had a bit of an advantage