LUFKIN, Texas — The City of Lufkin has issued a press release asking citizens to abstain from calling Lufkin Police and Fire Sevices. The emergency response teams are "currently responding to numerous weather-related issues," including downed power lines.
"Ice-covered trees are falling on power lines, causing additional outages and fire hazards," Jessica Pebsworth, Lufkin Communications Director, said in the press release. "If you see a downed line, call our non-emergency number at 936-633-0356. DO NOT APPROACH IT or attempt to drive under it."
Pebsworth says dispatch is "inundated" with calls concerning downed lines, and they cannot take any calls about power and water issues.
"Within the past two hours we’ve hit that tipping point," Pebsworth said. "There is just enough ice in the trees to create line issues. At the same time, temps have warmed to above freezing so we are now seeing water issues that frozen lines had masked. So if it seems like this is happening all at once … IT’S BECAUSE IT IS."
The City of Lufkin has also now depleted its water supply, leaving most people in the city without water.
"Our water department has been working around the clock to identify mainline issues and we yet to find one," Pebsworth said. "To re-establish our water supply, it is imperative that citizens locate leaks at their homes and businesses and either repair them or turn the water off at the meter."
Typically, the city can produce 17 million gallons of water, and the demand does exceed 14 million gallons a day even during high-water-usage months. Demand at this time of year typically does not exceed 7 million gallons a day.
"Due to being on backup power, we can’t run at 17 million gallons a day," Pebsworth said. "Even on backup power though, we are more than capable of producing 7 million gallons a day."
Pebsworth says there is a "MAJOR" issue with leaks at private homes and businesses and to get supply back, these leaks must be stopped.
Two fires also occurred in Lufkin this morning.
A house burned to the ground in the 1100 block of Keltys Street this morning. No injuries are reported and no one was in the house.
Firefighters were able to contain a breaker-box-related fire in the 800 block of McMullen Street and the structure was saved.
"We continue to ask people to stay at home," Pebsworth said. "In addition to icy/slushy roadways, we now have the added hazard of falling trees. The less people on our roadways, the easier it is for our emergency vehicles to get where they need to go."
