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Waco District Aids Towns, People Affected by Hurricane Harvey

Back to Volume 7, Number 9


Unlike the devastation that ravaged the city of Rockport, Harvey miraculously spared most of the small coastal town of Port Lavaca, just an hour away. However, every signal light in the Port Lavaca area suffered varying degrees of damage from the hurricane-force winds.

The four-day job of replacing or repairing those lights fell on Waco District Signal Supervisor Jimmy Mullings and his crew, who spent the daylight hours repairing traffic signals. At night, they slept on cots in an 18-wheeler parked at the TxDOT District Headquarters in Yoakum, 60 miles to the north.

"When we started working on Monday, residents were driving around, assessing the damage to their homes," Mullings says. "Despite their personal problems, many would stop and give us water bottles and thank us, and tell us they were glad we were there."

TxDOT crews in Corpus Christi

TxDOT crews aid with debris cleanup in Corpus Christi.


To a larger degree, storm victims exhibited the same behavior in Humble, where Waco District employee Wesley Wooley was sent to help with the massive high-water rescue efforts that we all saw play out on television.

"These people just lost everything, and yet they were thankful to see us. You could see the sadness, but you could also tell they were thankful to be alive. They had every right to be mad, but they weren't," Wooley said. "Flooding and devastation were everywhere, and they appreciated what we were doing for them."

Wooley and Mullings were among the more than 30 employees from the Waco District deployed to help with the hurricane aftermath. Most were sent to the Bryan District for pre-staging. Two sign crews and two signal crews were then sent to the Yoakum District, and dispatched where needed — like Port Lavaca. From Bryan, a six-member high-water rescue crew was sent to Atascocita to help with the flooding in areas around Humble and Crosby. Another crew was sent to Sugarland to help with debris removal. Additionally, a crew deployed directly from Waco to assist in high-water rescues.

After their initial tasks were completed, some of these same employees installed AquaDams in Houston and Beaumont (see related story) or helped with road closures in the Bryan area.

TxDOT crews searched for stranded citizens

TxDOT crews searched for stranded citizens and helped ferry them to safety via departmental dump trucks following Hurricane Harvey.


"Anytime there is inclement weather with major damage, the Waco District sends crews to the affected areas," says TxDOT's Justin Brenek, who was crew chief for the district employees. "With Harvey, we had crews scattered everywhere."

For the high-water rescues, TxDOT crews drove high-clearance dump trucks near flooded neighborhoods and staged in pre-arranged parking areas. Civilian volunteers with boats would find stranded or trapped flood victims, rescue them from their homes, and bring them to the parking areas. The TxDOT crews then drove them to a shelter or other safe areas.

"In just one day in Humble, my truck transported 30 victims, and the TxDOT crews moved about 100 people," Wooley says. "In one family alone, ages ranged from the 80s to a 6-month old baby."

Some of the Waco District employees had helped in previous disasters, like the Corsicana flooding in 2015 and Hurricane Ike in 2008. Many said they were looking forward to helping out again when called upon. And it looks like they could get another chance soon.

"Once all the water recedes from the Hurricane Harvey flooding around Houston, a lot of road repairs will be needed. We've been told we could be called on to help," Brenek says.

Back to Volume 7, Number 9

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