Eagle Lake Family,
As you are all well aware, we had some severe weather Tuesday, Jan. 24, including a con- firmed tornado at approximately 12:20 p.m. The storm included over six inches of rain, most of which came within about one and a half hours. That amount of rain in such a short time period lead to issues with our wastewater system. The purpose of this post is to provide some additional information on why we had the issues and some items on moving forward.
First and foremost, we were blessed to make it through the storm with no injuries reported. Buildings and possession can be replaced. Loss of life cannot. We were not hit near as hard by this storm as Pasadena or Deer Park. We have an awful lot to be thankful for today, and we need to keep those folks in our prayers.
Our stormwater and wastewater systems are capable of handling our normal usage through an hour or two of three-inch/ hour rain maximum. That is the reality in 90% of the cities across Texas. Many city systems handle way less, and very few coastal cities will handle slightly more. When we or any other city get over three inches or rain in an hour, our storm system becomes fully charged (full of water), and it has no room for additional water. At that point, the water starts to accumulate in low-lying areas and begins to infiltrate our waste water system through the manholes. Once that occurs it does not take long for our wastewater system to become fully charged as well. Once we get to that point, there in nothing we can do "fix it” until the system has a chance to catch up.
Your Public Works Department did an excellent job yesterday of keeping the stormwater flowing to help speed that pro - cess along. While we were all inside in the safety of our homes and businesses, they were out in the middle of the storm, soaked, working for you. Because of their efforts, by approximately 3:00 p.m., the systems had caught up and things were back to normal. That didn’t end their day though, as they were all out well into the night making repairs to facilities damaged during the tornado. We all owe them a BIG thank you today!
I also just spoke with our solid waste contractor, GFL, about tree debris from the storm. If you had any trees or large branches that were downed as a result of yesterday’s storm, they will be picking those up next week. You will need to place them on the curb, as organized as you possibly can, in maximum six foot lengths. The pick-up of those items will start next Thursday.
