A STALLED CITY SLOWLY GETTING BACK INTO GEAR
It won’t be too many more days before Houstonians drop their temporary greeting — “y’all flood?” — and return to the more familiar “how y’all doing?”
The worst-hit parts of Houston remained disaster zones Wednesday, but in spots where the waters drained, life began to return in fits and starts.
Cyclists returned to using the bayou trails. Joggers hit the street in the early morning.
Bellaire resident Fred Blitzer sped down the West Loop under sunny skies to get an oil change.
“It feels strange,” Blitzer, 55, said. “So many people are hurting . ... I’m here living.”
Still, most basic services will take some days to reach full strength.
All city workers will not return to their posts until Tuesday, Mayor Sylvester Turner said, but regular garbage pickup will resume Thursday. Those whose days were missed – Tuesday, for example – should wait for next Tuesday, however, rather than putting the can at the curb tomorrow.
City departments spent part of Wednesday determining what services they can return to service before all staff returns Tuesday, said the city’s chief operating officer Harry Hayes, but it’s not clear how the speed of the city’s response on any given complaint would differ from the response on a typical workday.
As of Wednesday evening, all postal service delivery was suspended in zip codes beginning with 770, 772, 773, 774, 775, 776 and 778.
Metro buses will gradually return to service Thursday morning.
Many but not all of Metro’s “high-frequency” lines like Westheimer and Bellaire — identified on maps and Metro materials in red — will be functioning at rough intervals of 30 minutes, said the agency’s chairwoman Carrin Patman.
Metro’s light rail lines still are being checked for damage to their electrical systems, though trains will run every 15 minutes from Fannin South to the Downtown Transit Center on the Red Line starting Thursday. Medically necessary MetroLift services aresumed Wednesday.
Metro’s park and ride service will resume Tuesday, Sept. 5.
“We are getting back into gear,” Patman said.
Uber is granting rides to and from shelters in several cities, including Houston, up to a $50 value per trip.
About 500 Yellow Cab drivers, after ferrying a number of flood victims to shelters in recent days using city vouchers or waiving fares, were on the road Wednesday, roughly a third the typical number.
Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports launched and received a few domestic flights Wednesday afternoon, having ceased commercial activity on Sunday.
United Airlines brought in six flights Wednesday evening and sent out three, said Houston Airport System director Mario Diaz. Thursday the airline will send its first international flights, one to Beijing and one to Istanbul.
United plans on Friday to begin a reduced United Express schedule for regional flights, and Southwest Airlines will resume at Hobby Airport after noon Saturday.
“We are in a phase now we’re ramping up operations, so please, passengers, don’t come to the airport until you have confirmation of a seat on a flight,” Diaz said. “We know that there are a limited number of seats and the airlines are really going to be in a ramp-up mode at this point.”
Turner, who was the most jovial he has been in what has been a repeated series of public briefings since Harvey hit, pointed to resumed trash, airport and transit service and a drop in customers lacking electric service, and struck an optimistic note.
“We are moving back getting into operation,” he said. “It’s my hope that in spite of how massive this storm has been that the city of Houston will quickly move to get back to where we were and then even go beyond that.”
Dug Begley contributed to this report. mike.morris@chron.com