As many San Antonians continued to face burst water pipes, more snowfall and freezing temperatures on Thursday, Mayor Ron Nirenberg set up a fund to help residents pay for pipe repairs or other damage while the city was thawing.
“I’ve talked to my colleagues. I had a great chat with the mayor [Sylvester Turner of Houston] yesterday, “he said at a city council meeting on Thursday.
Nirenberg said the city will urge the federal government to expand federal eligibility, as well as reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to include pipe repairs after the San Antonio freeze.
“We are dealing with the immediate crisis of restarting human power and getting the water going again. But then there will be an infrastructure problem for which we will need all hands on deck. We need federal support. But I think we will need a fund, at least in the short term. “
Although power was restored to much of CPS Energy’s service area on Thursday morning, the company’s outage map still showed almost 7,000 customers without power on Thursday afternoon. However, CPS Energy confirmed Thursday that power to the pumping stations had been cut amid the power shortage. Even when power is restored to pumping stations, many still have no running water due to frozen or burst pipes.
City administrator Erik Walsh said he will return to the council after examining the possibility of an emergency pipe repair fund for local residents.
In the meantime, the city will waive approval fees for sanitation emergency repairs to help people get their pipes back in order faster, Walsh said. (Property owners and licensed plumbers don’t need permits for emergency repairs, frost damage, or leaking plumbing, he said.)
“We will work to waive all sanitation repair permit fees for the next two weeks,” he said.
Walsh also warned residents to avoid scammers who might advertise repair services with no intention of providing them or falsifying messages about disaster relief in Texas.
“We have released corrections and correct information to the public,” he said. “You should never have to call the state or federal government and provide social security numbers. … And additional information on contractors and possible scams will be released this afternoon [the Development Services Department];; It started when we were at this Council meeting this morning. “
The mayor also reminded the San Antonians that he and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff had issued an emergency statement on Wednesday prohibiting charging more for things like groceries or hotel stays than in front of snow-capped San Antonio.
“Every repair company in town will be working overtime,” said Nirenberg. “They’ll try to get materials, they’ll be competitive. The judge and I issued an emergency order regarding price cuts. We will take care of you if you take advantage of our residents in this regard. “
The Mayor’s Emergency Repair Fund The proposal comes a day after he and the rest of the city council grilled the heads of CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) at an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
Nirenberg, who opened the meeting on Wednesday, asked CPS Energy President and CEO Paula Gold-Williams if she could explain the reason for power outages that lead to water scarcity. Officials from CPS Energy and SAWS said they prioritize “critical” services like hospitals and public safety stations, but Nirenberg argued that the provision of water could be construed as a critical service. SAWS relies on electricity to power its 200 pumping stations around San Antonio that distribute water to customers.
“We already have some things in the critical cycle,” said Gold-Williams. “So I think we tried to go to the main facility pages to coordinate this, but it’s obviously a point of opportunity for us. While this will only reduce the number of circuits we can work with, it does, of course, indicate a void that we can fill. “
Nirenberg seemed dissatisfied with her answer.
“That would certainly be high on my list if we get through this,” he said.
In light of power issues across San Antonio, Councilor Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) said Wednesday that she and some of her fellow councilors have signed a resolution to scrutinize the council (CCR) requesting a contingency plan for CPS Energy in the event of unexpected situations.
“When hell freezes over, it’s frozen over,” she said. “So we need such an emergency plan. I know there are many contingency plans already in place. … I just want to make sure we prepare for the inevitable. “
Any plans must also consider how to reach all of San Antonio’s residents, Rocha Garcia said. People who rely on resources like TV news for updates are vulnerable when they don’t have access to electricity. There are also differences in the other resources residents might have at their disposal in light of a boiling water notice issued by SAWS on Wednesday.
“In my area we have electricity, we have no gas,” she said. “How are we going to boil the water? How can we communicate with residents who do not have access to social media? “
Alderman Manny Pelaez (D8) said though He and his fellow councilors are “angry” about the power and water failures. Just pointing the finger at who was causing the problems at this point in the crisis was not a priority.
“I haven’t met a voter who is going through this crisis and interested in hearing whose fault it is,” said Pelaez. “They are more interested to hear when it will be fixed. We still have a lot of time to post-mortem later. “
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