The situation
Fort Bend County saw a wide distribution of rain totals, with the southern area getting approximately five inches and northeastern parts of the county such as Sugar Land seeing rainfall totals nearing 11.5 inches, Fort Bend County Judge KP George said in a July 10 Facebook video. Wind gusts also reached up to 94 miles per hour, he said.
“We are working diligently, we are working hard to make sure we can provide any kind of comfort and any kind of help to this ... situation,” George said. “It is [an] unbelievably big, big weather event.”
During the July 10 Commissioners Court meeting, Greg Babst, Fort Bend County emergency management coordinator, said the county is expected to have around $20 million in disaster recovery as a result of Beryl.
Additionally, Babst said George signed a disaster declaration for the county, which will allow access to state and federal recovery resources.
Fort Bend County Homeland Security & Emergency Management asks residents to report all damages from Beryl so the county can identify severity, locations and cost associated with losses. Online forms are linked below:
- Individuals
- Businesses, including commercial and agricultural
CenterPoint Energy’s new outage tracker showed 208,988, or 59.15%, of Fort Bend County customers were without power as of July 9 at 3 p.m.
This morning, 147,000 county residents were without power, Babst said. However, CenterPoint progressed in restoring power to more homes throughout the day, he said.
“Heat is the condition, [lack of] power is the condition throughout the county—those are our biggest concerns right now,” he said.
What else
While power remains out across the county, officials encourage residents to utilize county shelters and cooling centers, including the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds shelter, which was one of the first that opened in the region and has been utilized by approximately 229 residents, Babst said.
Additionally, Fort Bend County Road and Bridge is planning to provide debris removal beginning the week of July 15, although dates have not yet been released. Katy and Sugar Land have also announced plans for debris removal.
Another note
Meanwhile, Fort Bend County Health & Human Resources is offering oxygen refills for those who need home oxygen, according to a Facebook post. Those needing oxygen must bring their own oxygen bottles to the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds at 4310 Hwy. 36 S., Building C, Rosenberg.
The county is also offering rides to shelters, dialysis or cooling centers, according to the post. To request a ride, call 281-342-6185.
What’s next
The county will begin distributing ice and water at distribution pods as early as this evening or tomorrow, July 11, although it has not been released where these sites will be located, Babst said.
