Brian Murray - Harris County OEM (Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator) Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yep, Houston is as cold as ice this morning, six
twenty three, or is so time? Here in Houston's Morning News,
we're joined again by Brian Murray. He's the Deputy Emergency
Management Coordinator for Harris County at the Office of Emergency Management.
By the way, I think you're one interview away from
getting a parting gift. So you know, get those frequent
talk show miles in and you can get a free,
free parting gift of some sort.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Brian, Hey, that sounds great. I mean I'm settled for
an upgrade, but you know I'm always up for a president.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
I think the first gift we would give you would
be a snowshovel. Do you think you'll ever get a
chance to use that again?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Uh? You know what I want to say. I hope not.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
I hope not either. You know, we we've been talking
the last couple of days about the about the obvious.
You know, we were not used to the snow. We
do we we we're coping with it as best we can.
I think that. Uh. You know, the only real issue
we seem to have this morning are the roads. Maby,
have you found any other issues we need to be
concerned about?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
No, I think that's exactly right. You know, I think
the potential for some black eyes out there on the
roadways it is very real. And even though you know
we've been telling people to stay off the roads, now
this is the second day, we do feel like the
lights you know, on the at the end of the tunnel.
We get to about lunchtime, suns out, a lot of
this ice starts to melt. Things are going to start

(01:16):
getting back to normal pretty quick. So our message to
everyone today is, look, bear with us for the next
you know, five, six, seven hours, and you know we're
we're gonna say something a little more normal by by
this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Are you guys running excuses for people who have been
told they need to go to work?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, I will find any excuse. Yeah, that's fine. I'm
happy to do. But yeah, and I realize that's the problem.
And the schools have been out for two days, people
have been off work for two days, and a lot
of people, you know that that that is certainly an issue.
They need to they need that income, you know, But
I think you have to balance that against you know,
not creating hazards for yourself other drivers. Not to mention
our first responders, record drivers, other people who have to

(01:54):
respond to those incidents.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Well, and as we've already found out this morning, for example,
two ninety still has a problem with a couple of
eighteen wheelers that were in a wreck yesterday, but it's
been too icy for the tow trucks to go out
there and take them off. So some of the some
of the problems that we had yesterday, they're still there
this morning. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
And then I guess said, it's looking like today is
the last day. And and if that's the case, you
know great. And I was asked earlier about my takeaway
from this event, and that is we really had almost
an unprecedented partnership between the public, government agencies and nonprofits
and keeping people safe. And that doesn't happen for every event.
But I felt like, you know, the public has been

(02:31):
fantastic and responding to our messages and are pleased to
staff the roadways, and you know, I said, just bear
with us a few more hours, and I think we
can give let everyone off off the chain.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Well, I think part of the reason behind that, Brian,
is is for for a lot of Houstonians, you're talking
about the unknown. I mean, we deal with hurricanes and
floods all the time, and people have a tendency sometimes
to do some risky things during those events because they
feel like they know what to do because they've been
through it so many times. Snow and ice is a
whole different story.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I agree. I mean there was certainly a little
bit of a fear guy for some folks, and you
know that's unfortunate. You know, we kind of learned teach
ourselves as emergency managers not to fear the unknown, just
to prepare for it. But I'm also sitting here in
a well heated building and I'm not going out on
the roadways, so it's a different perspective. But again, I
think whatever the motivation, we had, good outcomes.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, Ben, I would assume that the only thing you
might be slightly concerned about now is when the thaw
begins in the winter, the night we're going to see
water main breaks or other pipe issues.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, that's a tough thing too. You know, right now,
the sun's basically still down. What we see when the
sun comes up and you know, we start finding out
more about water main breaks, you know, some impacts to
people's lives, homes. You know, there's gonna be ways to
deal with that. But you know, in the big picture,
we didn't lose you know, a lot of lives. In fact,

(03:46):
I have no information about that right now on the
official level. So you know, if we've gone through this
preserved life, that's the biggest thing.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
You're right about that, Dane. Thank you for your time
the last couple of days. We appreciate all the help.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Not at ultimately perhaps you'd be happy there for you
in the residence.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Appreciate it. Brian Murray with Harris County. He's their Deputy
Emergency Management Coordinator.