MITCH THAMES / Public Information Officer for Matagorda County, Joins Houston Morning News, July 12th, 2024

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Mitch Thames joins US Public Information Officerfor Mountagorda County. Mitch, Welcome to
news radio seven forty kat r H. Good to have you on. What
kind of shape is the county inright now? Well, we're getting back,
We're we're getting back. We didtake the direct hit. Uh it
was it was something to see,you know, it was sitting out spinning
as a tropical storm, and I'veheard the reports of hitting as a cat

(00:24):
one. I'll tell you it feltlike a cat to uh, especially down
in my Sergeant Texas area. Theyare devastated, they're still isolated. We've
got we've got a lot of helpthere right now for those folks. We
we've got water distribution, food eyes, we've got we've even got portable showers

(00:48):
and and and uh porter cans forthem. They're they're they're in tough shape.
The rest of the county where we'recoming back, very very strong.
We're now into recovery. We're nowinto now we're talking about debris clean up.
I just thank y'all for the opportunityto talk an additional way for me

(01:08):
to talk to our community. Howabout how about the water systems of water
supply are you are you having power? Are you getting all that back up
and going again? Mud districts becauseI know you're distributing water and allowing people
to have showers, So that tellsme maybe the water pressure isn't too good
yet. A share in Sergeant areaonly it's an area down on the east

(01:33):
side along the Gulf coast. Thewater system there, all the other water
systems in the in the county,both of my municipalities, they stayed up
and running, no no problem.After Harvey. We really hardened those with
with generators. Uh and it reallywasn't the generators are the systems themselves?

(01:56):
Share it down in Sergeant there wereso many dam so much damage to the
houses and the RVs that the pumpswere pumping but the plumbing had been destroyed
and they were just pumping water andwe couldn't keep the pressure up. So
those are being We've been working onthose all week. It wouldn't surprise me

(02:21):
if they've got the water system fairlyquickly. I can't talk enough about go
ahead, now, go ahead,get that out. Our power providers have
been tremendous. We have two JacksonElectric co Op which is definite. The
Sergeant area AEP Texas, just ina three block area in my house.

(02:43):
The other day, I counted eighteentrucks. We couldn't get in and out
because all the trucks were here.We love seeing that. And they reported
yesterday at four o'clock they've got ninetyfive percent of the power back on.
Right now, we've got a shelterthe Bay City Civic Center and the Red
Cross is running that. They've gotcots, food, eyes, plenty of

(03:07):
plenty of food. It's also acooling center if you want. That.
Sounds like preparation was pretty good downin your county. You know, we
we were watching this storm as itcame across for weeks or for a week.
My timelines are a little off,I apologize, But for a week

(03:27):
we we did. We pulled ourplan out, we had it ready to
go. We we were like everybodyelse. We thought it was Brownsville,
Mexico, and then Brownsville, andthen you know, South Padria Island and
then here it comes into Corpus andlo and behold the direct hit in Matagorda

(03:49):
County. Well, you guys madean adjustment. You guys made an adjustment
that others evidently were not able tomake. Have you asked for help from
the state, and if so isthe state? You know, what is
the state done to help Matagorda County. Jimmy, it's amazing. There's not
one thing that we've asked for thatwe haven't gotten in twelve hours. And
in fact, we told ourselves theother day, be careful what you asked

(04:12):
for, because we're getting eighteen wheelersfull of you know, eyes in which
we need we need. But againI reminded our county judge and our EOC
director. I said, let's becareful because I remember Harvey when when things
happened, we had acting governor,Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick here. On Wednesday,

(04:33):
he came into into Bay City.We had a really great briefing with
him and Chief a kid and alsoour state Senator John Huffman has been amazing.
Between those people, they promise usif we've got as much as a
question that they're fulfilling it. Now. I'll tell you, Sharon, Jimmy,

(04:58):
I'll tell you how good it makesme feel that the state actually sent
two trains public information officers to ourEOC to help. We've got t them
here. Texas Department embedded with USTexas Department of Emergency Management. We've even
got cour of engineer folks. We'vegot we've got the Forest Service down here

(05:18):
helping us with with our limbs.We've got the Texans on Mission, the
Texas Baptist Group, Texans on aMission dot org. We've got crisis clean
up here for people that need helpon private property. Of course, our
governmental agencies aren't able to help uson private properties. So Texans on a

(05:40):
Mission dot org and Crisis clean Upis nine seventy nine two one seven thirty
seven ninety one. They'll go inand and on your personal property. All
you have to do is ask andand uh and and register. We've got
the we've got debris companies here already. Three. You know, hate to
do this to you, but we'regonna have to get run in here.

(06:01):
That we don't have as much timeon our morning shows. We'd like to
have it. But thank you forall the information, and more importantly,
as a Harris County resident myself,thank you for being willing to ask for
help. You. Obviously, youfolks don't care about who's in charge or
whether the Republican or a Democrat.You knew you needed help. You asked
for help, and you got thehelp you needed. You did your job,
You sure did. Mitch Thames,public Information officer for Mattagorda County