After Hurricane Beryl hit the Greater Houston region July 8, the Conroe and Montgomery area has begun recovering.
What happened
Hurricane Beryl reached Matagorda as a Category 1 storm around 4 a.m. July 8, Community Impact previously reported. Beryl then made its way through Houston, leaving millions of people without power.
The Conroe and Montgomery area experienced roughly 5 inches of rain between July 7-11, according to the Harris County Flood Warning System.
The options
With the goal of assisting those impacted from the hurricane, area entities in Conroe and Montgomery opened centers which have electricity.
Shelters and cooling stations include:
- Lone Star Community Center, 2500 Lone Star Parkway, Montgomery
- West County Community Development Center, 31355 Friendship Drive, Magnolia
- Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Parish, 26777 Glen Loch Drive, The Woodlands
- Fellowship of Montgomery, 12681 FM 149, Montgomery
Conroe Connection Transit also announced free fares on all inner-city fixed routes. Routes run 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday.
In Montgomery, the city’s public works department is offering free curbside pickup of limbs no longer than 10 feet and tree debris Monday through Friday with no call needed.
Conroe debris pickup has no set time or date for removal, but the city asks residents place debris on their curb. Conroe Mayor Duke Coon said recovery efforts to remove all debris may take four to six weeks.
What else?
Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough and Coon have each signed declarations of disaster for Montgomery County and Conroe, respectively.
What they’re saying
At the Conroe City Council’s workshop meeting July 10, Conroe Public Works Director Norman McGuire said the main focus right now is infrastructure and giving residents a place to get their debris out for collection.
“We are going to authorize our on-call contracts, so we got a lot of troops to come and land in Conroe, so that would be good,” McGuire said. “That's going to speed up our recovery there. There's an estimated 60[,000] to 80,000 cubic yards of green waste on the ground. So it will take a while to get that picked up, but we'll do it.”
Coon said the city staff is working hard to provide aid for the community.
“We'll weather this storm like we weathered all the ones before us," Coon said. "I'd ask our citizens just to be patient. It's going to take time to recover."
Zooming out
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration following Hurricane Beryl, and cities are now able to receive grants and federal assistance as previously reported by Community Impact.
