GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston Mayor Craig Brown said about 70% of the island, or 35,000 customers, were still without power on Tuesday after taking a hit from the dirty side of Hurricane Beryl. CenterPoint told Brown that their goal is to have power to the island restored by Wednesday.
In a news conference, the mayor said key city services are back to normal in most instances but there are major issues with phone service.
“Our phone systems are down. The phone system at the city is down, the phone system at the county is down. The phone system at UTMB is down,” Brown said. “We all share a specific organization in Houston that manages this phone system and it went down in Houston.”
They also had issues with the Emergency Operations Center. Callers couldn’t get through, partly because of the phone system issues and partly because of the number of people calling.
The 911 system is working.
Brown said the West End was the hardest hit and roads there are flooded still so people can't get in or out of the neighborhood.
“We’ve had extensive damage on the island, we’ve had structural damage, we’ve had reports of tornadoes," Brown said. We have had a lot more concerns with this hurricane than we were ever thinking would happen before it came ashore here.”
He admitted the intensity of the storm caught them by surprise because it moved around so much in the hours before it roared ashore near Matagorda.
“Up until midnight, before it came ashore there around the early part of that Monday, midnight Sunday, we were still getting reports that we would have wind speeds that were less than what we experienced.”
Thankfully, there were no storm-related fatalities or serious injuries, according to Brown.
Other important updates from Galveston mayor
- There's no curfew but the mayor is asking people to stay off the roads, especially at night.
- Police patrols are being increased in all areas to protect people and property.
- A recreation center at 28th and Seawall is open as a cooling center.
- They started debris pickup on Monday and are bringing in extra workers to help. Brown said they may contract with a third party.
- All fire stations are open for people to charge phones.
- The Port of Galveston is closed to cargo ships and crews. A Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Mariner of the Seas, is overdue so the Coast Guard will allow it in but no others.
- It's important to report damage to the Texas Department of Emergency Management portal. Their report goes to FEMA to determine how much funding Galveston and other Texas cities receive.
- Residents are encouraged to sign up for Notify Me to receive text alerts or emails from the city.
- Tourists are asked to hold off coming to the island for the next few days while they work to get things back to normal. However, beaches are open.
