More than One Million Bottles of Water Distributed
Video of water distribution and news conference with Mayor Turner, Fire Chief Pena, Public Works Director Haddock, Police Chief Acevedo and other partners.
Mayor Sylvester Turner joined employees and community volunteers to distribute bottled water Friday at Delmar Stadium.
The massive distribution assisted families struggling due to historic cold temperatures, frozen pipes, water leaks, and the city’s boil water notice.
Volunteers handed out one-million water bottles to people during the drive-thru distribution in addition to senior centers and city council member districts throughout the city.
The mayor thanked everyone who helped make the distribution possible, including Houston Public Works employees who assisted overnight to set up the distribution site, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, the Mayor’s Health Equity Response (H.E.R.) Task Force and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department. HPARD redeployed over 50 employees and vehicles to deliver pallets and assist with the distribution to the public.
During his daily news update, the mayor provided the following update:
- Two weekend water distribution sites will be held over the weekend. Locations and times will bee announced soon
- The situation is improving across Houston. The majority of Houstonians should have water by the end of Friday, but residents will still need to boil the water until at least Monday, Feb. 22.
- Power should be restored to all customers by the end of the day.
- Houston Public Works has received 5,000 calls related to broken pipes.
- Call 311 and continue to report broken pipes.
- President Biden signed a major disaster declaration to provide funding and resources
- The National Guard is assisting at the George R. Brown warming center.
- More details released soon on a Winter Storm Relief and Recovery Fund.
“This past week has been a major event that disrupted many lives,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “As the lights come back on and water pressure goes up, we want to be sensitive to the fact that many families will be in crisis mode for weeks and months to come. We have to be very focused on doing everything we can to assist families within our city. Until the least of the people in our city recover, we are still not yet fully recovered.
