they will be used, but local cleanup e orts are already in progress. The city of Hutto scheduled a debris removal event March 11 at Adam Orgain Park, and in P ugerville, o cials opened three debris drop-o areas through Feb. 20 and will o er curbside pickup for debris through Feb. 17. O cials and sta from both cities said aid e orts will continue to evolve as the scope of the damage becomes more clear. P ugerville sta said in a Feb. 3 email to Community Impact that the city’s emergency management team is working with regional partners to identify resources for storm recovery. One entity working with local gov- ernments to provide aid after the storm is a Central Texas nonpro t called the Austin Disaster Relief Network. ADRN Communications Director Kat Cannon said the organization, which is a network of more than 200 Central Texas churches, is coordinating vol- unteers to help residents clean up tree branches. That includes those living in Round Rock, P ugerville and Hutto. Meanwhile, representatives from P ugerville and Hutto ISDs said they will explore options for making up lost instructional time. Both districts were closed for four days during the storm— double the two days of inclement weather closures Texas school districts are allowed per school year. In February 2021, the Texas Educa- tion Agency o ered waivers to school “I hope this is not the new norm, but if it is, then as arborists we’re going to have to do a lot more mitigation work that includes tree trimming.” LEE EVANS, OWNER OF CERTIFIED ARBOR CARE
DISPOSING OF DEBRIS Local o cials estimate debris from the Jan. 31-Feb. 2 winter storm will take several weeks to clean up. The cities of Hutto and P ugerville are providing services to help residents remove trees, branches and other storm debris. HUTTO Residents may report limbs and other debris in public roadways to the Hutto police nonemergency line at 512-846-2200. Curbside pickup from residential properties is available through Al Clawson Disposal Inc. The city will remove bound debris bundles weighing 35 pounds or less on regular trash removal days. Hutto is accepting volunteers who want to assist other residents with larger removal work.
Fallen tree branches that resulted from the recent winter storm damaged homes and vehicles throughout P ugerville and Hutto. (Brian Rash/Community Impact)
To help explain the destruction, Evans said just a half inch of ice accumulation can add an extra 7,000 pounds to a tree that is 30 inches in diameter at the trunk. Perez said even though thousands lost electricity during the storm, the power outages were not tied to grid conditions or power availability. Oncor, which services tens of thousands of residents in the Hutto and P ugerville area, could not pro- vide extensive outage information for the area. However, in Williamson County, Perez said the number of outages reached about 31,300 on Feb. 1, and in Travis County, outages peaked at about 16,000 on Feb. 2. Hutto Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Zito Jr. said the out- ages were di cult to predict, and the city worked closely with Oncor in the days following the storm. “Everybody likes to point ngers when things go bad, but really this is just one of those things where you just have to work through getting the infra- structure put back in place,” Zito said. Next steps Now that winter storm disaster dec- larations are in place, more federal funding can be allocated to assist with relief e orts. O cials in Hutto and P ugerville said it is still too soon to know what federal resources will come or how
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for at least several weeks, but leaders from Travis and Williamson counties and Texas have already issued disas- ter declarations. O cials said those measures were key to open up federal resources to boost local relief e orts. “The damage that we experienced was similar [to] a tornado, if you will,” said Armando Perez, area man- ager for power provider Oncor. “The devastation across the communities was severe.” What happened Beginning Feb. 1, ice began accu- mulating on trees and infrastructure for roughly two days, weighing them down and resulting in thousands of power outages and wide swaths of debris in roads and residential and business areas through both cities. Local o cials said icy roads were also unsafe for travel through Feb. 2. Arborist Lee Evans said his com- pany, Austin-based Certi ed Arbor Care, received more than 850 calls for service by noon Feb. 1. That included calls in Williamson and Travis coun- ties, he said. “I thought [Uri] was a once in a lifetime event,” Evans said. “Obvi- ously this is proving me wrong. I hope this is not the new norm, but if it is, then as arborists we’re going to have to do a lot more mitigation work that includes tree trimming.” “The damage that we experienced was similar [to] a tornado, if you will. The devastation across the communities was severe.” ARMANDO PEREZ, AREA MANAGER FOR ONCOR SOUTHERN REGION
Scan the QR code for more information.
PFLUGERVILLE Waste Connections customers can leave limb and brush debris curbside for removal through Feb. 17. Residents may drop o tree debris from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. through Feb. 20 at:
P ugerville Recycle Center 15500 Sun Light Near Way Pfennig Park
1301 W. Pfennig Lane 103 W. Railroad Ave.
Scan the QR code for more information.
SOURCES: AUSTIN DISASTER RELIEF NETWORK, CIRCLE OF HOPE COMMUNITY CENTER, CITY OF HUTTO, CITY OF PFLUGERVILLE, HUTTO RESOURCE CENTER, TEXAS BOARD OF LICENSED PLUMBERS, TEXAS A&M FORESTRY SERVICE, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT
Hutto resident Jesse Muñoz worked to clear fallen tree branches from his yard Feb. 3. (Brian Rash/Community Impact)
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