00:00I know things are busy. What is the latest and did you just have a meeting with the mayor and city leaders?
00:08Yeah, you know we've been planning for the event since Thursday as the snows move through the area today
00:14It looks like it's starting to clear a lot of the residents are getting out enjoying the snow playing
00:19Outside and you know our real concern for a lot of folks is as we get to a hard freeze later this afternoon and tonight
00:25Everything's gonna ice over and road conditions are going to be become pretty dangerous around the city center around the area
00:31All right, so it's pretty rare in Houston, right?
00:33So, how do your teams keep the roads clear? Are there enough plows available in any other vehicles for treating the roads?
00:39Yeah, so as you can imagine in Houston, we don't have a fleet of plows like they do up in
00:44Minneapolis our local text thought the state highway department
00:48They've actually mobilized in 22 plows from around the state
00:52We got some plows from El Paso Dallas Abilene some different districts
00:57We're really focusing on the major freeways to have transportation going but it's very difficult for us, you know city of Houston
01:03We have 16,000 lane miles and this is just not something we deal with on a regular basis
01:09So obviously mobility is definitely a challenge for us
01:11And you mentioned another difficulty as we move forward temperatures getting above freezing during the day and then below freezing at night
01:19So this could be a problem that lingers for at least a couple of days, correct?
01:24Correct. Yes, sir
01:25And actually we are preparing for things to for our 9-1-1 call volume to go up through afternoon throughout the afternoon and into the evening
01:33We're really worried about tomorrow morning
01:35people are gonna wake up and
01:37They're gonna think that things are safe for them to get back on the road and we're gonna have some challenges with people slipping and
01:43Sliding all over the place. Well, I know if I was a Houston resident, I'd feel very
01:46That you guys are so prepared it seems like very ready for this
01:50So what messages do you have for your Houston residents during this winter storm?
01:55So I think the most important thing is as as public servants, you know, we've done our job
02:00We've been planning and preparing since Thursday. We've been collaborating with our county partners our state partners working really close
02:07Extra staff on you know work in 24-7 to support them
02:11Our request to them is please please please help us out do your part stay off the roads
02:16Give us another couple days things are gonna warm up and we'll be back to our normal Houston weather
02:21You know in the long-range forecast long-range forecast
02:24It looks like we're going to be in the upper 60s or low 70s come this weekend
02:27So hang tight stay home for a little bit
02:30We'll get through this and and we'll be be able to go back to business as usual in Houston
02:34Brian Mason director of Houston's Office of Emergency Management. Thank you for joining us
02:39Stay safe, and if you can enjoy the snow
02:43Thank you, sir
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