City, state take action ahead of icy storm
The Houston region’s preparation for the coming winter storm continued Friday with crews treating roads for ice, schools and public transit announcing plans to close early next week and local officials warning residents to prepare to stay home for days on end.
Gov. Greg Abbott declared a statewide emergency Friday as workers from Houston Public Works, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Harris County Toll Road Authority sprayed overpasses, toll roads and freeways with a mixture intended to prevent icing. In some cases, they have been forced to wait until roads dry or scattered rain stops.
More than 30 public, private and charter school districts and colleges, including Houston ISD, announced they would close completely on Monday and Tuesday. Another 29, including Alief, Spring and Goose Creek ISDs, said they
would shift all work and instruction online for those days.
Metro is suspending all transit services Monday morning through Tuesday, or whenever it is safe to resume operations, at which point the agency may gradually return to normal operations, officials announced.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Friday warned the coming storm may be the Houston region’s worst winter weather event in 30 years and cautioned its effects — from closed roads to downed power lines — could resemble those of a Category 5 hurricane.
“What you’re seeing is not your typical hard freeze,” Hidalgo said at a Transtar briefing. “This is a sustained cold spell that has the potential of causing tremendous destruction to our region.”
Forecasters predict subfreezing temperatures between Sunday and Wednesday, as well as wintry precipitation.
“This is extreme for our area,” county meteorologist Jeff Lindner said. “It could be sleet. It could be freezing rain. It could be snow. It could be all three.”
Officials are planning to spray nearly 100 bridges and street overpasses with a magnesium chloride anti-icing mixture Saturday morning, Houston Public Works spokeswoman Erin Jones said. Workers will wait to apply the substance until roads dry, she said, because the chemicals are ineffective on wet pavement and can be washed away by rain.
Light showers or drizzle are expected in the Houston area Saturday, along with potential freezing rain north of the city, according to Matt Lanza of the Space City Weather blog.
If rain continues longer than expected, crews would have to delay their de-icing
plans beyond Saturday morning, Jones said.
The city handles de-icing on bridges and street overpasses at various spots in north, southwest and southeast Houston, such as where TC Jester passes over Eureka Yard and at the intersection of Memorial and Shepherd. The Harris County Toll Road Authority is responsible for toll roads, while the state transportation department typically handles highway overpasses.
This time, in anticipation of an “extensive icy winter weather event,” state workers are pre-treating all major freeways in the Houston area, including U.S. 290 and interstates 10, 45 and 69, said Emily Black, a spokeswoman for TxDOT. The agency is attempting to cover all freeways in the area as much as possible, Black said, though it is prioritizing outside lanes on wide freeways such as I-10, in case crews are unable to cover the entire roadway.
Their efforts are part of a statewide storm response ordered by Abbott, who issued a disaster declaration for all 254 Texas counties on
Friday and instructed the Texas Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety to deploy patrols to help stranded motorists along major travel corridors, among other emergency operations.
National Weather Service officials said to expect snow, sleet and freezing rain Sunday evening through early afternoon Monday in the Houston area, with the coldest front coming Tuesday
morning when temperatures are expected to dip into the teens.
If the city roads ice over, workers will de-ice them with a sand mixture, Jones said.
The storm presents a unique challenge, Hidalgo said, since the region has extensive experience preparing for hurricanes but rarely experiences severe winter weather. Southeast Texas lacks the stockpiles of salt
and snowplows that are commonplace in northern states; drivers do not switch to snow tires in the winter.
Patches of ice had already had begun to emerge Friday morning north of Houston. Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies investigated a crash at U.S. 290 and Binford Road near Hockley where black ice was reported. Ice also was reported around 7:30 a.m. near U.S. 290 and Texas 99, according to Houston TranStar.
Farther north, the Magnolia Police Department reported a 13-vehicle crash on top of an overpass at FM 1488 and FM 1774, urging people to be aware of icy roads and drive carefully.
Mayor Sylvester Turner acknowledged a blunt truth: Houstonians do not know how to drive on snow and ice. He said residents should be prepared to stay put for several days and urged them to bring pets inside and wrap exposed pipes to prevent them from freezing.
Some city workers will stay home Monday and Tuesday, the mayor said.
A further complicating factor is the COVID-19 pandemic. Houston will close its vaccination sites on Monday and Tuesday; Harris County’s will shut down from Monday through Wednesday.
Turner said the city’s outreach team had begun contacting homeless residents in an effort to direct them to a warming center that will open 2 p.m. Sunday at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Fort Bend County officials were making similar preparations Friday, with road crews sanding bridges and overpasses on tollways and county roads in an attempt to stave off icy conditions.
Fort Bend County ISD announced campuses will be closed Tuesday.
Alan Spears, Fort Bend County’s deputy emergency management coordinator, said the National Weather Service had warned county officials that harsh conditions may persist for three or four days. Spears also said residents should prepare for loss of power during the storm.
In Montgomery County, emergency officials and commissioners were working on plans Friday and “making sure that they have the grit that they need for the roads,” said Meghan Ballard Arthur, a spokeswoman for the county office of homeland security and emergency management.
People should stay home if they can for the duration of the frigid storm, Ballard Arthur said.
“Only get out when necessary,” she said. “Sunday night through Tuesday morning is going to be a hard time on the roads. So, if you can stay home and stay put, that is what we are recommending.”
Anna Bauman, Alejandro Serrano and Shelby Webb contributed to this report.