Liberty County has been grappling with extreme weather in 2024, first with the devastating floods from May through June, and now Hurricane Beryl, which tore through Southeast Texas on Monday, July 8.
Despite being categorized as a Category 1 storm, Hurricane Beryl left a wake of destruction, and as of Wednesday, July 10, tens of thousands of homes in the Greater Houston Area remain without power. Residents are enduring the intense summer heat without the ability to cool down inside their homes, compounding the hardships they face.
In addition to power outages, cell phone and Internet connections are unreliable due to damaged cell phone towers and communication systems. On Tuesday, authorities had to improvise after the emergency radio system failed to operate as intended. Thankfully, the systems have been restored to full functionality.
“We lost power at the sheriff’s office for a couple of hours on Tuesday, but the 911 system never went down,” said Bill Hergemueller, Director of Liberty County Office of Emergency Management. “The backup generator kicked on, but some fuses blew, forcing us to get a representative from the generator company to help us. He had it fixed within 30 minutes.”
Hergemueller admits to feeling fatigued from the back-to-back crises but remains committed to assessing damages and identifying areas in need of aid.
He has submitted a STARR request to the state for emergency relief pods, with plans to set up pods in Liberty, Plum Grove, and the Tarkington area.
“The biggest challenge is finding ice because it’s a hot commodity right now. We have tarps ordered for people’s roofs and are hoping those arrive soon. I am going to make every effort I can to get help for Liberty County residents,” Hergemueller said.
During his assessments, Hergemueller identified a possible tornado spawned by the storm in the Dayton area, about eight miles north of SH 321.
“It didn’t do more damage than the hurricane though,” he noted.
Determining whether damage to homes, businesses, or other properties resulted from the May-June storms or Hurricane Beryl is one of the significant challenges in these assessments.
Due to the federal process, recovery and rebuilding efforts may not begin for several months, pending the allocation of federal funds. Damage assessments are crucial in determining the state’s eligibility for various forms of federal disaster assistance, from Small Business Administration loans to long-term housing assistance. Texans can report storm damage to homes and businesses using the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s (TDEM) Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool at https://damage.tdem.texas.gov.
Liberty County OEM continues to work tirelessly to support residents and ensure necessary aid and resources are provided promptly.
To report your damages, click on the link: https://damage.tdem.texas.gov/