Mid-County city managers caution residents ahead of Tropical Storm Beta

Published 12:28 pm Monday, September 21, 2020

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Southeast Texas is preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Beta, and Mid-County city officials are addressing current concerns and sharing preparation advice with local residents.

GROVES

As of Monday, operations regarding limb pick-up, garbage and sewer will continue as normal.

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City Manager D.E. Sosa said the city has deployed five trucks to continue picking up debris left over from Hurricane Laura.

Two trucks will continue on the usual trash route, while three will continue to survey specific neighborhoods for debris removal.

“We’ve already surveyed the city, so we know what’s put out from Hurricane Laura,” Sosa said. “We are still going to pick it up as normal, but we would ask residents to try not to put any limbs in their ditches. Put them in the street in front of the ditches if possible.”

Sosa encourages all residents to err on the side of caution as the storm continues to move closer to the Texas coast.

“Right now, everything we are hearing from the weather service is that it’s going to be more of a rain event than a wind event, and where the bands of the storm are located will depend on how much rain we get in this region,” he said. “But if it does flood, we are ready to get people out. If we get another Harvey, we have all of the high profile vehicles we need on standby.”

Sosa said residents can continue to check the city’s website and Facebook page for up-to-date changes.

“We are hoping for the best, but we are going to play it day-by-day,” he said. “Pay attention to the weather and stay informed.”

PORT NECHES

Trash and debris removal pick-up will continue as routine.

City Manager Andre Wimer said the city is following its standard set of practices for storm preparation.

“As we do with all potential storm threats, our crews are checking drainage and clearing ditches in the event that we do receive a significant amount of rainfall,” he said. “We are following our routine practices to make sure there is no obstruction to our drainage system. That’s the main thing.”

Residents are asked to continue monitoring the city’s website for more information.

NEDERLAND

The city of Nederland will continue debris removal and trash pick-up as regularly scheduled.

City Manager Chris Duque said debris and limb removal will continue as long as possible.

“We are working on the debris removal, but we still have a fair amount of work to do,” he said. “We ask anybody that has any debris in the ditches to move it out of the ditch. If anybody’s placed anything near a culvert that might impact the drainage system, we are asking residents to relocate the items as well.

“We are currently driving around to see if there is anything blocking the drainage systems and using the trucks to push it out of the way. That is something we will continue to do daily.”

The city intends to run a normal trash schedule for the week of Sept. 21-27.

Sandbags are still available at Doornbos Park, 2301 Ave. H, until Tuesday morning.

“We encourage people that want to get sandbags to do that today,” Duque said. “During the evening, we will leave the sand piles out there for people who need to come after hours. We see how the weather corporates tomorrow, but we don’t anticipate having sandbags available tomorrow because of the increase in rain.”

City officials are preparing for the increase in rain and potential flooding with additional crews on standby.

“We anticipate scheduling additional crews in case we need to set up any barricades on certain streets overnight,” Duque said. “During the day, we are prepared with all the emergency personnel and safety crews we need. It’s a matter of preparing for the evening hours.”

To stay up to date, continue to monitor the Nederland city website, Facebook page and local media.

“I think we are just watching this very carefully and right now we are in the part where all we can do is hope everything works out for our area, but stay prepared if it becomes more problematic,” Duque said.