‘We’re not built for this’
by Nicole Bradford
Hard lessons learned during the winter of 2021 ultimately paid off when another historic storm rolled into Pearland on Jan. 20.
“Fortunately for this one the lights stayed on; four years ago, we weren’t that lucky,” Mayor Kevin Cole said. “Our public did a great job as well. They heeded the warnings — they stayed off the street.”
Ice closed four main bridges in the city, closing schools and businesses — but the city maintained critical infrastructure and key services, staff said during a report Monday.
“We’re not built for this — it’s easier and cheaper to just sit,” Cole said.
City crews responded to 78 private water leaks, 29 instances of no water in homes due to frozen pipes, a damaged fire hydrant, a water main repair, and 26 calls for proactive water meter turn-ons and turn-offs.
An incident management team was put in place before the weather arrived. Emergency plans were put in place, including ensuring backup generators were functioning and fuel was available, city staff said.
“We were ready in the event we needed to overcome power obstacles,” Assistant Public Works Director Eric Hammond said during a report to the city council. “This was the result of years of lessons learand ned solid investments of critical infrastructure to get us to this point.”
Public messaging, including social media, did help keep people off the streets, “and that step ultimately helped make sure our response for emergency services — PD, fire, EMS — were lower than anticipated because of good messaging.”
