HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — City and county leaders have spent the day preparing for severe weather. Both the city and county activated their offices of emergency management.
The county activated its OEM on Monday at 2 p.m. It’s a Level 3 activation, which is the lowest level, and means they are monitoring the situation and ready to respond.
Outside District 4 of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office sits two high-water rescue trucks on standby.
“We don’t always want to assume that they’re going to need them. We like having them out there just in case," Sgt. John Gonzalez said.
HCSO covers five county regions. Each of the districts will have a pre-staged rescue truck. Districts 3 and 4 will get two.
“Those are a little more prone to flooding, at least according to the weather report that we’re looking at," Gonzalez said.
But they’re not the only ones ready. Lake Houston has been lowered by a foot, and the Houston Fire Department said it stays ready.
HFD's resources remain pre-staged and include nine high-water vehicles, 11 rescue boats, 20 evacuation boats and one fireboat.
Harris County Meteorologist Jeff Lindner said that right now the flood concern isn’t so much for homes, but driving at night on flooded roads can be very dangerous.
“It’s almost impossible to know the depth of the water, especially at night, where you may not be able to see curves very well or how deep or if the road is depressed or anything like that," Lindner said. “It’s hard to see wet pavement and a pool of water look about the same especially if you’re driving 45 to 50 miles per hour.”
The city’s Office of Emergency Management will activate at 8 p.m. and will stay open throughout the night.
“We’re going to be looking for high water locations, damage from any high winds, down power lines, down trees so we can coordinate getting city services out there," City of Houston Director of Public Safety and Homeland Security George Buenik said.