GALVESTON, Texas – Just days after a boy lost his prosthetic leg in the Gulf of Mexico while on family vacation on Galveston, the community has raised enough money to help buy him a replacement.
Jayce Swindall, 9, was visiting the beach town with his family from Waco, Texas earlier this week.
Early Monday morning, they headed out for the sand. When Jayce saw the waves, he did what just about any other nine-year-old would do: he took off for the water.
“He just kind of dove into the first wave he saw,” added Jayce’s father, Ken Swindall. “He ran out there when he saw those waves, and I didn’t get a chance to take his leg off. I was just happy to see him having a good time, and I wasn’t really thinking about it.”
That’s when a rogue wave hit Jayce, knocking off his prosthetic leg.
“It was two parts,” added his stepmother Val. “One rolled up his leg and then the actual foot with the leg clicked into that, and we had never had an issue with it falling off or anything.”
Immediately, the whole family started searching. They looked in the water, on the sand and everywhere in between.
It wasn’t too long after that lifeguards, beach patrol land even other families joined in the effort.
“I mean, everybody it was a valiant effort on everyone’s part. But the sea won that day,” Val said.
Jayce’s new prosthetic leg was gone. This was a big blow to the family, who loves the beach. After all, it is their happy place, especially for Jayce.
“When it happened, man, it really it was like a ton of bricks,” Ken said.
They didn’t let this ruin the family vacation. Instead, they kept having fun.
In the meantime, they posted to Facebook just in case someone spotted Jayce’s prosthetic leg.
Within a few days, the $7,000 prosthetic was paid in full by complete strangers who just wanted to help.
“You hear so much bad stuff in the world today, and that’s what I’ve told my husband. If you don’t believe in God before this, here’s yours on like, this was a godsend,” Val said.
The good people from Galveston helping a family more than 200 miles away.
Helping a kid, a regular ole kid, get back on his two feet.
Gage: “Jayce, is there anything you want to say to all the people who helped make this happen?”
Jayce: “Thank you.”
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON – Hurricane Beryl’s power outages in the Houston area are historic for CenterPoint, according to Jason Ryan, Executive Vice President of Regulatory Services and Government Affairs. And fueled by “unprecedented extreme weather” including not just Beryl, but freezes, drought and rain that have all contributed to conditions that caused debris — entire trees and limbs — to bring down or damage power lines.
In a live and exclusive interview with KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding this afternoon, Ryan said the amount of help they brought in was unprecedented too. on Wednesday, 11-thousand workers were out on 16-hour shifts, restoring power and making repairs.
Ryan — who said he also has no power — expects the company to reach its goal of restoring power for one million customers by the end of Wednesday, as promised.
What’s up with the outage tracker?
“So the outage tracker map that we put up, last night is still a temporary fix that shows kind of in groups where you are in our restoration process. We will update that map three times a day at noon, at 4 p.m., 8 p.m.,” Ryan said.
Starting Thursday, CenterPoint will also give customers estimated restoration times. That should help us all get a better handle on how long it will take to get power restored to most folks.
The company’s outage tracker crashed with more than 900,000 outages during May’s derecho and the company told everyone a new, better tool was coming.
“But we are bringing a completely new, outage tracker map that will be able to withstand the significant traffic that we saw during the derecho. It was that significant traffic on the map that brought that site down. We knew if we put that same site back up, it would not meet customer expectations this go-around either. So that’s why we came up with the outage map that we put out yesterday. We will continue to refine the information on that map and provide estimated restoration times starting tomorrow,” Ryan told Goulding. The new outage tracker was supposed to be ready by the end of this month, but Ryan didn’t have a date for the rollout.
More than a million customers were still without power in the Houston metro area Wednesday night after Hurricane Beryl’s destructive wind.
Transcript from the full interview:
Gage Goulding: Thank you so much. I know you’re incredibly busy. You and your entire team. On behalf of Houston, we thank you for all the hard work the men and women here at CenterPoint are doing. First and foremost, how are you and your team? Is everybody okay and safe?
Jason Ryan: We are. And you know, I want to start out by thanking our customers for their patience. We’re about 48 hours since the hurricane left the greater Houston area. And our team has performed well. We’ve had no serious injuries or fatalities. Very proud of that. Especially with the more than 10,000 additional resources that we brought in from other utilities. They’re not used to being in Houston. they’re working in dangerous conditions. And so, the men and women in the field are safe and super proud of them.
Gage Goulding: And that’s a staggering number. So let’s start there. I met, I think, of a crew as far away from Wheeling, West Virginia that I, whenever I was out and I worked in Wheeling, West Virginia, many moons ago. And I was just so shocked that they were here so quickly. And I believe the number was 12,000 people out working to restore power. Have you ever had an activation of that size before, or is this kind of historic proportions, if you will.
Jason Ryan: So we’ve never had this many customers out from a storm before. 2.26 million customers out at the height of the storm. so as a result of that unprecedented outage number, we needed to have an unprecedented response. So we brought those crews in as soon as it was safe to bring them into Houston, and got them to work. There are more than 11,000 people working on the system today.
Gage Goulding: 11,000?
Jason Ryan: Yes.
Gage Goulding: So let’s talk about that. That was an incredible goal of a million people restored by the end of today. Are you confident? Are we going to reach that?
Jason Ryan: Yes, we’re on track to reach that. We, restored 918,000 customers as of 1:00 today. So we’re on track to hit that million customer mark. Our crews are working 16 hour days. And we’re going to work non-stop around the clock until we get all of our customers back on. But we are confident in hitting, our goal for today.
Gage Goulding: So we put an article up earlier asking our KPRC 2 Insiders to, you know, give us some questions that they want to ask you if they can be in the hot seat with you right now. One of the questions was, and we saw some crews, you know, just in a parking lot. “There’s crews down the street for me, there in a parking lot. They’re not working. What are they doing?” Is that a shift waiting to go on? You know, what are these? How does that all work?
Jason Ryan: It could be a number of things. It could be them documenting the work that they’ve done so far. It could be them getting additional directions for the work they need to do. You know, some of these crews, they get on site. Based on the assessment that they’ve done, that we’ve done, they may need additional information before they can get started working. Again. 10,000 plus of these personnel are not CenterPoint energy employees. They need to understand the standards to which we have to build our system. They need to understand how high the clearances for the lines need to be to comply with local ordinances. So they may be getting that additional information before they start their work. Or they may be, recording the work that’s been done to date so that we can get those outage numbers constantly updated. You know, so there are a number of reasons why they may be, idle for a minute. They may also be on break. We know our customers are hot. The men and women doing this work are hot. So they are taking breaks. They are rehydrating. So that may be another reason why you see, the crews not actively working, but they are out there working.
Gage Goulding: What are some of the biggest problems that you’re dealing with right now? Is it you know, what we saw during the May storm? Transmission lines down. Is it vegetation? What are some of the biggest obstacles out there?
Jason Ryan: Yeah. So unlike that storm, unlike, Harvey before it, this is not a storm that caused material problems on our transmission system. The transmission system of the big poles and wires that move power across the state. We didn’t have material damage to the transmission system. We didn’t have material damage to our substations. Our substations didn’t flood, like they did during Harvey. This is a distribution system challenge. It is the poles and the wires that go from the substations to your home or business. That’s the distribution system. And it’s largely debris on that distribution system. It could be entire trees, that have fallen over. It could be limbs that have fallen over. You know, we’ve gone through significant freezes, significant drought, significant rain, unprecedented, extreme weather conditions on our large trees here in Houston. You’ve got large canopies without mature root systems and so that’s why you see entire trees coming over onto our infrastructure. So it is a vegetation tree problem on the distribution system. Our personnel as of the end of the day yesterday had walked 4,500 miles of distribution lines to assess the problem so they can assign the right crews to do the right work. You know before we can send the right crews out, we need to know do we need to send a construction crew out a large construction crew to rebuild the poles and the wires? Do we need to send a vegetation crew out to remove trees, or do we need to send a smaller crew out, to rework smaller parts of the distribution system? Knowing which crews to send out is the reason we do that assessment work in the first 48 hours.
Gage Goulding: And we we talked about, brought it up to the ratio back in May. That put quite a strain, actually, believe it or not, June 7 is when we did that interview. Fast forward a month to the day is whenever Beryl was about to make landfall. So just very ironic. And, you know, we talked back then about how during Ike, CenterPoint had 12 days to get, you know, ready to brace for it in duration. You had no time.
Jason Ryan: 15 minutes. Yeah.
Gage Goulding: How much time did you, you know, realize that? This is going to this is going to impact us and our customers.
Jason Ryan: eah. So we started watching this storm nine days out. And as everybody knows, at that time, it wasn’t looking like it was coming to Texas. Obviously, as the days got closer to Monday, that started to change. It really started to change over the weekend. When it was more clear that it was going to hit the Houston area. So we, lined up 3,000 mutual aid resources to come into Houston before the weekend. As it became more clear that this storm was going to have a direct hit on us, that’s when we increased the number of people that we asked for. And that’s where the, greater than 10,000 crews came in to play when it was clear that the storm was going to hit right here.
Gage Goulding: And one of the things that we talked about in depth that there’s already changed from the derecho to now was the outage tracker. And I, I want to quote our interview that we had. You said,”We didn’t meet customer expectations when that wasn’t available, when they needed it most. It’s not acceptable to us or our customers.” And this is what really stuck with me, “We know that we will not have that grace from our customers and communities to miss it again.”
Jason Ryan: That’s right.
Gage Goulding: The new outage tracker. You promised a new outage tracker in maybe a little bit quicker than you would have wanted to try it out. Are you happy with the new outage tracker? And is this the solution to make sure people are informed? [16:07:42][37.4]
Jason Ryan: So the outage tracker map that we put up, last night is still a temporary fix that shows kind of in groups where you are in our restoration process. We will update that map three times a day at noon, at 4 p.m., 8 p.m. We will update it three times a day. Starting tomorrow, we will have estimated restoration times. That’s more granular than what you see there today. That is still a temporary fix.
We are starting completely from scratch with a new outage map, that we unfortunately were aiming for the end of this month in advance of the typical hurricane, peak of hurricane season, right? August. September.
But we are bringing a completely new, outage tracker map that will be able to withstand the significant traffic that we saw during the derecho. It was that significant traffic on the map that brought that site down. We knew if we put that same site back up, it would not meet customer expectations this go-around either. So that’s why we came up with the outage map that we put out yesterday. We will continue to refine the information on that map and provide estimated restoration times starting tomorrow.
Gage Goulding: Another thing we talked about back in June, and it seems like such a long time ago, but in the broader, you know, business, there really isn’t. We talked about the supplies because that’s our concern back then was how does how did that the Rachel affect hurricane season where you have all your stock built up. And I remember you telling me that, you know, you said I can’t lie to you. We’re trying to get everything put back together. Were you able to replenish your stock in time, or are you facing any supply chain issues or we need more poles and we can’t get them?
Jason Ryan: We don’t have any material challenges with our supply right now. We did replenish that over the course of the last month plus, since the derecho. So we are not having supply issues, causing delays and restoration.
Gage Goulding: If I have no power, I see my neighbors still have it. I think there’s a lot of people. The number one question I get is, you know, when is you know, 77098 coming on when it was like a zip code or something like that, right. What can you tell people? Yeah. After. And I get it, I don’t have power either at home right now. It was a very uncomfortable sleep last night.
Jason Ryan: Same.
Gage Goulding: So you don’t have power, right?
Jason Ryan: Right. That’s right.
Gage Goulding: So even even one of the top dog doesn’t have that happen. So you’re you’re with us, you know, and I’m sure you’re wondering when is that beautiful white truck going to come down and fix my stuff. What can you offer to the CenterPoint customers and people of Houston to just help us get through this? You know what we dig For any information, what would you offer?
Jason Ryan: So, we know that customers want to understand the process. So yesterday we put out a visual of the process. It’s a five step process, right? It starts with our preparation post-storm. It starts with assessment. That’s step two of the process. Many of our customers are still in step two, but a number of our customers have gone on to step three, which is restoration at the circuit level. Think of, circuits being the main highways of the distribution system that bring on entire areas of town. And so we start working on circuits first with the theory of bring on the most people the quickest and you’ll get to the one-days, two-days later. We know that’s still frustrating for those, 1 or 2 people that are out in that neighborhood, but our priority is to get the most people on the soonest. So as soon as we finish those circuit level outages, that’s where you might see certain neighborhoods on, but other neighborhoods not on. Again, we work down the priority list. So, step threeare those circuit level, outages. Step four starts getting into the neighborhood specific outage and then step five is the premise-specific outage.
During Hurricane Ike, for example, I was the last house in the neighborhood to get on because the line to my house was on the ground. Nobody else had the line on the ground. And so I was one of the last ones because that’s the process that we use.
Gage Goulding: And everybody wants to have the priority status. Even you don’t have the priority status. Is there a priority leveling? Is there certain neighborhoods get power first because it’s, you know, status or anything like that or is it based off of where the hospitals are?
Jason Ryan: We do give priority to a number of public safety-related premises. So think water treatment facilities, 911 centers. So we do prioritize getting those facilities back up while at the same time we’re working on the circuit level outages for the homes and businesses. So we do prioritize those public safety necessary premises to get back up before you get into boil water notices unnecessarily, things like that. So we don’t want the problems to get bigger just because, you might be the one-days, two-days, but you’re an incredibly important public safety premise So we do prioritize those. We are working through those priority lists as we speak.
Gage Goulding: And we only have a couple of minutes. I want to get across two more things here. The last time we talked in June, you said Ike cost about $700 million in the derecho in May was around roughly at the time about $100 million. Is there any forecast on what this has already cost or what it will cost?
Jason Ryan: Not yet. We’re still in the first 48 hours of the event, but we have brought in many more crews than we brought in, for the derecho, so this will be, you know, a multitude or, you know, twice as much, probably as the derecho event, but we’re still working on that.
Gage Goulding: And, we talked about this in depth in June, and we reported on it and I think this is a really interesting thing, the Resilience Plan, a huge monumental investment by CenterPoint to make the grid stronger. A lot of the questions people had were actually answered by that like, “Why isn’t CenterPoint investing in making the grid and everything stronger?” That’s actually in the process of happening. Can you explain how and what the Resilience Plan is and how that’s going to help? If we knock on wood and hopefully don’t get one of these again. But if it [the plan] happens, how it will help prevent having these monumental numbers?
Jason Ryan: So our Resilience Plan that we filed with the state back in March has 28 different programs associated with it. Some of them are on hard infrastructure, like distribution lines, where we’re replacing wooden poles with harder composite poles. Some of them are cybersecurity related. Some of them are physical security related. But let me stick with the pole example. And we’ve seen during the duration that we’ve seen during this storm where we’ve already started putting those composite poles up. In these severe weather events, those composite poles remain standing, and right next to them, wooden poles that we haven’t yet replaced are on the ground, snapped in half. So we know from these early tests that the Resilience Plan will yield better results once it’s fully implemented.
Gage Goulding: Well, Jason, thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time. We appreciate all the work that CenterPoint is doing and you know, look, a lot of people still in Houston without power it’s going to take time, but 12,000 people, that’s a lot of people that are out there working right now. Anything else you want to add in there that we didn’t get to?
Jason Ryan: You know, only again recognizing that our customers are feeling the brunt of this. And understanding that in addition to the power being out, many of them have suffered significant, loss to property, right? Trees on their houses, trees on their cars. Trees on their businesses. And so our hearts go out to our customers. We thank them for their patience as we continue to do restoration. But we do know, that there’s a lot of suffering out in the community and we’re we will not stop working until the work is done.
CRYSTAL BEACH, Texas – The Houston area dodged the worst of Tropical Storm Alberto, but that doesn’t mean we got away without a scratch.
Our barrier islands took a beating from Alberto’s storm surge. Galveston Bay and nearby barrier islands saw two to four feet of storm surge roll onto the island.
For communities on the Bolivar Peninsula, this turned out to be a devastating punch to their solo line of defense when it comes to fending back the angry waters of the Gulf of Mexico: sand dunes.
Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula after storm surge from Tropical Storm Alberto ate away at the coastline. Photo: June 20, 2024 (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“This ain’t a storm. This is disturbance out in the Gulf,” said Crystal Beach resident Shane Stone. “It’s 400 miles away and look what it’s done.”
In some areas of Crystal Beach, roughly 25 yards worth of sand dunes were seemingly washed out overnight.
Some homes are now exposed to the elements at their foundation with the waves from the Gulf nearly hitting their pilings.
At one home in the Tidelands community, the entire backyard and dunes were washed away.
A backyard in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula eroded away by the storm surge from Tropical Storm Alberto on June 20, 2024. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“Every bit of 10 to 12 foot height. Gone,” said Stone.
For the second day in a row on Thursday, storm surge was eating away at the beach and dunes.
Residents recorded video of sand literally washing away in front of them.
“This used to be all yard. These dunes was over this,” Stone explained. “We’re going to lose these houses.”
Sand dunes are one of the best ways to hold back the Gulf of Mexico’s destructive storm surge.
At Florida Gulf Coast University, researchers are employing the help of LIDAR-equipped drones to map the beach before, immediately and after Hurricane Ian.
Their findings show that storm surge takes two swings at their target: once on the way in and again on the way out.
“We realized that the storm surge actually causes problems twice, once coming in the so-called flood surge and once going out the ebb surge,” said Dr. Mike Savarese with The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. “And that returning water created, oh, horrendous conditions, in fact, most of the damage.”
It’s that ebb surge that’s ripping away the dunes from Bolivar Peninsula.
“Could you imagine if we actually have a hurricane,” Stone said. “A category one, category two. What it’s going to do?”
A backyard in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula eroded away by the storm surge from Tropical Storm Alberto on June 20, 2024. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
A Galveston County spokesperson told KPRC2′s Gage Goulding on Thursday that crews are still evaluating the extent of the damage.
Then they’ll be able to devise a plan to mitigate the damage until the end of hurricane season.
But the reality is, it’ll take time and that’s the one thing residents don’t have with another tropical system already brewing in the Gulf.
“Unfortunately, I think we’re doomed,” Stone said.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
GALVESTON, Texas – A 19-year-old woman was bitten by a shark on the west end of Galveston Island — but she didn’t go down without a fight.
Damiana Humphrey, of Oklahoma, told KPRC 2 senior digital producer Brittany Taylor she visited Galveston with her family on Memorial Day and then headed to the beach the following day.
“So, me and my family usually take a summer vacation trip together,” Humphrey said. “And so this year, we chose Galveston because we went two years ago, and we thought it was nice. So we went again. And, we usually go during, like, Memorial Day weekend. So, we got there on Monday. And then the incident happened on Tuesday.”
Humphrey, along with her two younger brothers, young sister and sister-in-law, went about waist-deep into the water. At some point, she said her sister-in-law saw something tan moving in the water.
19-year-old Damiana Humphrey (in green bathing suit) and family before shark incident at Galveston beach. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“She said that she saw a tan shadow, like something tan,” she said. “And it was pretty big, so she didn’t know what it was. So that’s why she was in the process of telling us we needed to go to shore.”
As she and her siblings were headed back to shore, Humphrey said she saw the nearly 5-foot shark grab hold of her left hand and attempt to launch at her again.
“That moment, my brain didn’t process it,” Humphrey said. “So it felt like a dream. Because first of all, it happened so fast. Second of all, my brain could not catch up to what was happening. It was my body’s reaction to it that probably saved me. So yeah, I did not. I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t think anything at the time.”
Fighting off a shark
Humphrey said she punched the shark at least two times, and her family had no idea what was happening at the time of the incident.
“They just saw like the waves splashing,” she said. “So, actually, my brother, one of my brothers, he told me to chill out because he just saw the water splashing everywhere. He did not see the shark. And then my other brother, he told me to stop splashing because many of them did not see the shark.”
After Humphrey fought the shark off, she told her family to get out of the water and they all ran to the shore — that’s when she saw the damage.
Damiana Humphrey runs to her father’s help after being bitten by a shark at Galveston beach. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“By the time I got to my dad, that’s when I raised my arm and I looked at it for myself,” she said. “That’s what caused me to freak out and stuff, because when I looked down, like a big chunk of the top of my hand was gone. And so I was like, ‘oh my gosh,’ because I thought I would lose my fingers or my hand because, to me, it looked really bad.”
Humphrey said an off-duty paramedic was at the beach with his family and helped her wrap a towel tightly around the bite until Galveston EMS paramedics arrived.
Galveston Island Beach Patrol told KPRC 2 they were responding to the beach but were told the victim was already headed to the John Sealy Emergency Room by ambulance.
Humphrey said doctors initially thought she severed one finger but when she went under for surgery, they found out it was four of her fingers. She also said they were able to repair the part of her hand with stitches. She stayed at the hospital for at least two days after surgery.
Damiana Humphrey recovering at hospital after shark bite at Galveston beach. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
Although she and her family were not told what kind of shark bit her, they researched and learned that it was possibly a “pool shark.”
Officials said most shark bites in the Galveston area are “hit and run” bites (not “attacks”, where the shark is feeding on schooling fish, bites a human by accident, and swims away). They’re cases of mistaken identity.
Humphrey’s recovery process
She said as she recovers, Humphrey had to quit her summer job because she has limited mobility in her left hand and can’t lift anything while her hand is healing in a cast.
“I can’t really do anything, she said. “Like, my hand is in a cast right now, so I can’t, like, bend it or lift anything right now. I will have to do physical therapy to gather my strength and my mobility and everything.”
The doctor told Humphrey that she will need to take 4 to 6 weeks before she does physical therapy and visit a hand specialist.
Damiana Humphrey recovering at hospital after shark bite at Galveston beach. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
“As of right now, I’m not in any summer classes at all,” she said. “But I did work at the hospital. It’s like, patient care tech. I did have to quit because I can’t with patients, and I can’t do any of the stuff I need to with my arm, because it has to be elevated throughout the day and night. And I can’t really do that work either. So I did have to quit my job. So I’m not working right now.”
A warning to other beachgoers
Humphrey’s advice? Stay alert!
She said the family looked up the weather for that day and checked the tides at the beach but not what was happening inside the waters.
“If you do go, like, be aware of what time of day you need to go, because we went during dusk and that was the time where, like, sharks come out, like dusk and dawn are the worst time to go,” Humphrey said. “So I would definitely be on high alert during that time if you go. And I would definitely recommend not going into murky water at night or like in the midday range, unless you know you’re feeling comfortable with. But also, shark attacks don’t happen that often, so I wouldn’t like worry too much about it.”
Galveston Island Beach Patrol’s general tips about sharks on our beaches:
Avoid swimming in areas with schooling fish
Do not swim in areas where water empties into the gulf- these are popular feeding grounds for sharks and large fish
Shuffle your feet – this chases away small sharks, stingray, and other marine animals that can be harmful
Avoid swimming or wading if there is blood in the area, including using a stringer while fishing
Always stay with a buddy, since sharks are more likely to approach a solitary individual
Do not wander too far from shore – being far from shore also isolates you from any emergency assistance
Exercise caution when occupying the area between sandbars or near steep drop-offs – these are favorite hangouts for sharks
Avoid being in the water during low light hours (dawn or dusk) and at night when many sharks are most active and feeding
Sharks have never been shown to be attracted to the smell of human blood, however, it may still be advisable to stay out of the water if bleeding from an open wound (SEE ALSO: Menstruation and Sharks)
Wearing shiny jewelry is discouraged because the reflected light may resemble the sheen of fish scales.
Avoid areas with known effluents or sewage and those being used by sport or commercial anglers, especially if there are signs of bait fishes or feeding activity – diving seabirds are good indicators of these fishes’ presence
Avoid water being used by recreational or commercial anglers
Sightings of porpoises or dolphins do not indicate the absence of sharks, both often eat the same food items
Use extra caution when waters are murky – some shark species will have just as much trouble seeing as you
Avoid uneven tanning, bright-colored and/or high contrasting clothing – sharks see contrast particularly well
Refrain from excess splashing, particularly in a single spot – sharks can hear the low-frequency sounds from splashing and may investigate to see if there is a fish/prey in distress
Do not enter the water if sharks are known to be present – slowly and calmly evacuate the water if sharks are seen
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Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
GALVESTON, Texas – A woman who was swinging a machete was reportedly shot by Galveston police after two people were stabbed at a women’s shelter, according to Galveston officials.
Officers responded to reports about a fight and that a person had just been cut by a woman inside an office just after 9 a.m. at the Resource and Crisis Center of Galveston County. It was also reported the suspect attempted to set a sofa on fire inside the facility.
When officers arrived, they saw woman reportedly chasing others down the street, wielding what appeared to be a machete. When officers tried to intervene, the woman approached the police unit and attacked it with the machete.
When a second officer arrived, police said the suspect began charging the officer, shots were fired, and the suspect was struck.
Two others were found with stab wounds inside the women’s shelter. The suspect and one of the stabbing victims were taken to UTMB Health in Galveston where they are being treated. Their conditions are currently unknown.
The second victim was treated on scene
Per Galveston Police Department protocols, officer involved shootings are investigated by an outside law enforcement agency. In this case, the Texas Rangers have been called in to conduct the investigation, along with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Team. The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office was also at the scene.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
GALVESTON – KPRC 2 has learned what is spilling out of the barge that crashed Wednesday morning into the Pelican Island Bridge Causeway in Galveston Wednesday.
The collision damaged the bridge and caused an oil spill, shutting off the only access to and from the island by car.
The Galveston County Office of Emergency Management identified the oil as vacuum gas oil. The barge was equipped to hold at least 30,000 barrels, according to Galveston County Judge Mark Henry.
Vacuum gas oil from the barge has been visually confirmed in the water, according to a release. This has caused the closing of a section of the Intracoastal Waterway from Mile Marker 350.5 to Mile Marker 357, approximately 6.5 miles
Galveston County OEM officials said they do not know how much was on board or how much has leaked into the Gulf.
What is vacuum gas oil?
According to Honeywell UOP, a petroleum industry company, vacuum gas oil is a key feedstock for fluid catalytic crackers. Those are used to make transportation fuels and many other by-products.
The Environmental Protection Agency lists vacuum gas oil on its Toxic Substances Control list.
It can irritate a person’s eyes, skin and respiratory system, according to a government safety data sheet. It can also cause chemical blistering, skin cancer and genetic defects.
It’s insoluble in water, spreads on the surface, then some components will eventually sediment in water. The volatile components of the product spread in the atmosphere, and it’s very toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects, according to a Valero Energy company safety data sheet.
What happened
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the barge, owned by Martin Petroleum, collided with the Pelican Island Bridge that connects Galveston Island to Pelican Island.
Power was temporarily interrupted to Pelican Island, which is home to Texas A&M Galveston.
Additionally, Texas A&M has canceled classes for the day, which roughly affected only 30 students because it’s the end of the semester. They’re opening their cafeteria for any students stuck there.
Secondary power was restored to Pelican Island, officials said.
Vehicle traffic across the Pelican Island Bridge and and vessel traffic in the channel have been halted due to the crash as structural impact to the bridge is being inspected by the Texas Department of Transportation.
Over 2,000 people including faculty, staff and students at Texas A&M in Galveston depend on the bridge, according to the student newspaper.
The atmospheric conditions are producing high levels of ozone pollution in the Houston and Galveston surrounding areas on Wednesday.
The air quality is deemed unhealthy for sensitive groups who may experience health effects.
Ozone watchin effect (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
The U.S. Air Quality Index is divided into six categories. Each category corresponds to a different level of health concern and also has a specific color. The color makes it easier for people to quickly determine whether air quality is reaching unhealthy levels in their communities.
Right now, TCEQ has declared an Ozone Action Day for Houston. Residents and businesses are being asked to take action to reduce emissions of ozone-causing pollutants.
You can help prevent ozone pollution by sharing a ride, walking, riding a bicycle, taking your lunch to work, avoiding drive-through lanes, conserving energy and keeping your vehicle properly tuned, according to TCEQ.
KPRC 2’s Frank Billingsley has a passion for all things weather.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
LA MARQUE, Texas – Nearly a week after a school bus crashed into her house, a La Marque woman is still left without many answers as to how or when her property will be repaired.
The school bus, which was privately owned and not transporting students, wrecked hitting a telephone pole, stop sign and Dianne Murphy’s van and home.
That was last Friday. Fast forward nearly a week and she still doesn’t have much help from the school bus owner’s insurance company.
That’s why she’s turning to KPRC 2 for help.
“It’s some runaround getting nowhere. I’ve got two steps forward and I get ten steps back,” Dianne Murphy said.
The school bus, owned by a Texas City woman, does have insurance with Progressive. However, they have not sent a claims representative to see the damage or offered Murphy any help, according to the homeowner.
Her van is sitting at a local repair shop waiting for someone to take a look. The same goes with her front porch. It’s still sitting in splintered pieces.
“It’s getting kind of dangerous out here,” she said. “I don’t want to be here and kaboom myself later.”
She’s tried calling Progressive to get answers. Most of the time, Murphy says it goes to the answering machine.
KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding tried calling with Murphy on Wednesday. Both times, our call was not answered.
Gage: “That’s what you have been getting this whole time?”
Dianne: “Yes, exactly.”
Gage: “So, you’re just left high and dry?”
Dianne: “Yeah. I get frustrated and tired of it, you know?”
Up until Wednesday, she didn’t even have a car. Murphy called on her own insurance company, who hooked her up with a rental immediately.
Gage: “Do you think it’s fair that they [Progressive] didn’t try to help you out?”
Dianne: “Yeah, I think [it’s] not right.”
The few times she’s been able to speak with someone at Progressive, it’s been bad news.
“She said that there’s not enough money and they’re worried about the telephone pole and the stop sign. And the heck with my car, my porch,” Murphy said.
Texas state law mandates that all drivers carry minimum insurance of $30,000 for injuries per person, with a maximum of $60,000 as well as $25,000 for personal property damages.
Murphy says repairing her porch could cost more than $7,500. That means if damage to her porch, van, the utility pole and the street sign total more than the coverage the bus owner’s insurance provides, Murphy wouldn’t get fully compensated.
There are ways to get the remaining amount of damages paid. These include suing the owner of the bus, an expensive and lengthy process that only has a chance of being successful.
“If that insurance don’t pay, then they need to fork over some money, the lady that hit me,” Murphy said.
In the meantime, she has a car but the days her insurance company is willing to pay for the rental are numbered.
KPRC 2 called and emailed Progressive for comment on this story. As of this report, we have not received a response to our message.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON – Stealing copper wire is not a new revelation in crime that can lead to lucrative returns for quick work.
However, crooks are now climbing to new heights to make a quick buck – literally.
All across SE Texas, specifically the Houston area, there’s been an uptick in criminals climbing cell towers to steal the copper that helps keep you connected with the world.
“Most of them are climbing,” said Carey McGrew of South Texas Cellular Services, which builds and maintains cell phone towers. “It’s super dangerous. They’re free climbing. So, it’s like you’re putting your life at risk, climbing this to get not much at all. You know, you’d be better off going to get a job than you would putting your life at risk.”
You might be wondering. Why climb the tower? That sounds like it’s really dangerous and difficult.
Well, the answer isn’t all that hard to find.
Criminals have their eyes set on thick telecommunication cables, called trunk, that carries the signal from the ground, up the tower and to the transmitters. This is a gold (or copper) mine for thieves. But to get it down, they need to cut it from the top.
In one stop, they can get away with hundreds of feet of copper wire.
It’s worth thousands in scrap value, but often thieves are paid pennies on the dollar.
“I know that we had one, and he only got 180 bucks at the scrap yard,” McGrew said. “But, I mean, just depending on what they steal, they could get a couple thousand [or a] couple hundred. Just depends on what they’re stealing.”
Some scrap yards know where all this wire is coming from and take advantage of knowing the criminals want cash now.
“It is against the law for scrap yards to buy this wire without proper documentation detailing the ownership of the wire,” said Sgt. Bob Carson with the Houston Police Department’s Metal Theft Unit. “HPD will investigate any scrap yard suspected of breaking this law.”
How Often Is This Happening?
That’s a great question. And the answer is a lot.
The Houston Police Department is investigating at least 20 cases of copper theft from cell phone towers in the last six months.
“Probably 7 or 8 in the last month. Just in the last month,” McGrew said.
Major telecommunications companies say they’re working with authorities in Harris County on a monthly basis to combat the spike in targets on their infrastructure.
But thieves aren’t biased on geographic location.
They’ve hit cell phone towers in several other counties, including Galveston County, where a man was just caught by sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged Jimmy Solis, 43, with criminal trespass and stealing copper in connection to the crime. He’s one of several suspects, the sheriff’s office said.
It’s Dangerous Work
That most recent case in Galveston County ended with a crook being caught in the act while roughly 40 feet up in the tower.
According to a local company that services the towers, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office responded and caught him in the act. While the man was climbing down, he somehow fell about 30 feet to the ground. It’s unclear if Solis was the individual who fell.
“They said that they just told us that he fell and that he hurt his hand,” McGrew explained. “They had to call him and an ambulance. Could have been a whole lot worse.”
Many of these crooks are free climbing the towers, meaning they’re scaling the several hundred-foot metal structures without the proper safety gear.
“If they are climbing or getting hurt on the tower. I mean, all of this is energized,” she said.
This Impacts All Of Us
Not only will could these crimes impact your family’s safety, but also your bottom line.
Each time a thief hits a cell tower, the cell phone carriers, like T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T and others, have to pay to have the damaged or removed cables replaced.
“It just depends,” McGrew said. “I know that some carriers that I’ve talked to, they’ve spent $10,000. Some of them have spent $20,000. Some of them have spent $25,000.”
At the end of the day, all of that comes back to the customers who see increases in their bills.
KPRC 2 asked some of the nation’s top cell phone carriers for comment on the thefts impacting their operations. Here are their responses:
AT&T:
“We’re actively working with local law enforcement, who is investigating to find those responsible. The public should be aware and report to the police any unmarked (non-AT&T) vehicles or individuals cutting and removing cable.”
Verizon:
“The theft of copper communications cables is illegal and dangerous because it puts our customers and others in jeopardy. If somebody needs to make an emergency phone call, including calls to 911, if their phone line was stolen, they may not be able to do so. These criminal acts have caused significant service delays and public safety concerns for Verizon customers and thousands of dollars in damage to local communities. The company urges anyone with info about these crimes to contact the Verizon Security Control Center at 800-997-3287 and select option 3.”
T-Mobile:
“This isn’t an issue that is significantly impacting how our network operates, however, it is important to note that theft at towers can lead to extremely dangerous conditions for our teams who manage them, so we do have tools in place to help us make sure our sites remain safe.”
Dish Wireless:
“DISH Network, a subsidiary of EchoStar, has experienced an increase in copper thefts in the Houston area at our local cell sites. We have collaborated with other wireless operators in meetings with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement agencies. Additionally, we have enhanced our security, including advanced monitoring.”
When cell phone towers are damaged, it can leave you and your family in real danger if there were to be an emergency.
“It impacts to people’s ability to call 911,” said Sgt. Carson.
Cell phone towers work like those old pesky Christmas tree lights. When one goes out, they all go out, or a hub of towers goes out.
“Sometimes the towers work as a hub,” McGrew explained. “If they take out one, it takes out like a ring of towers. It would take out seven, eight, maybe even more at a time.”
Cell phone carriers and tower managers are now using high tech surveillance systems and even security cameras to get notifications and video evidence in real time if crooks decide to hit their towers.
While it’s helping catch some crooks, awareness will help curb the problem and keep you connected.
KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding will have a full report on this new crime theft Friday night at 10 p.m.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
