“Recovery is truly a marathon, not a sprint,” he said.
What comes next
The city will continue to help residents with the ongoing recovery process and cleanup, starting with another debris drop-off at the city’s Public Works department from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 8, City Manager Robert Ranc said.
Residents will be able to take large debris, such as mattresses and furniture, as well as yard debris, such as tree branches, to the building at 10165 CR 106, Celina.
Council member Wende Wigginton recommended city staff look into reimbursement from Collin County for the city’s services during the storm once federal funding comes in.
Prairie Meadow Lane is located inside Celina’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, and under the county’s responsibility.
“It just seems fair that we ought to be able to bill the county for the services,” Wigginton said. “Otherwise, I think we continue to do what we're doing.”
What was being done
Celina police officers first arrived at Prairie Meadow Lane, one of the hardest-hit areas of the city, seven minutes after the first round of 911 calls, according to a timeline presented to Celina City Council members during a June 4 meeting.
Celina officers struggled getting to Prairie Meadow Lane at first due to the amount of storm debris in the road, Police Chief John Cullison said.
Multiple houses on Prairie Meadow Lane use propane tanks, which were “thrown around like toys” during the storm, Metdker said. Several callers reported smelling gas, and others reported downed power lines, he said.
“Calls just kept coming in from Prairie Meadow,” Metdker said.
Collin County deputies were also dispatched to the area at 11:35 p.m. and arrived at 12:02 a.m., according to a meeting presentation.
Celina police officers answered 50 calls related to the disaster and an additional 214 unrelated calls between May 25-27, Cullison said.
Keep in mind
Celina first responders received offers of assistance from the Prosper and Allen police departments, Cullison said. Collin College and Frisco police officers did respond and provided assistance in the most affected areas, he said.
There was also an outpouring of support from Celina residents.
“There are probably too many residents to thank,” Mayor Ryan Tubbs said.
There were some residents who made the early recovery process more difficult by trying to help and unintentionally interfering with first responders, Metdker said.
Celina officials eventually issued statements on keeping away from Prairie Meadow Lane and directed volunteers to other places.
“Some of the biggest problems we saw ... was trying to keep people out of there,” Metdker said. “It got pretty chaotic.”
