LUFKIN, Texas — Millions of Texans remain without power and the City of Lufkin is trying to salvage the damage from an unforgiving storm. The City has endured water shortages, ice-covered trees falling onto power lines, and house fires.
Jessica Pebsworth, the spokesperson for the City of Lufkin, said, “We have just been inundated today. This morning, somewhere around 8 o'clock to 8:30 we just hit that tipping point and everything happened at once.”
She says the City has gotten hundreds of calls from people dealing with power line emergencies, and the bottom line is Texas just wasn’t prepared for a storm like this.
Wednesday morning, fire crews responded to a house fire in the 1100 block of Keltys Street. It was a pier and beam structure and burned to the ground. No one was inside the home at the time.
There was another breaker-box-related fire in the 800 block of McMullen Street. Firefighters were able to contain the fire and the structure was saved.
“The last time that I remember, a winter storm of this magnitude that knocked out power and water for several days, was probably somewhere around 1993. These are all you know, very scary real situations that people are dealing with right now,” she said.
The city remains without water, not because of water main breaks, but because pipes at homes and small businesses all over the city are leaking.
Residents should check their pipes for these leaks and turn off the water meter if they find any.
Residents should also call Lufkin's non-emergency number at 936-633-0356 if there is a fallen line. Do not approach the line or attempt to drive under it- stay inside. With the dangers of icy roadways and now falling trees, the fewer people on the roadways, the easier it is for emergency crews to deliver relief.