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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, can't change it might as we'll try to enjoy it. Right.
Six twenty three is our time here in Houston's boring news.
Brian Murray's with US Harris County Office of Emergency Management.
He is their deputy Emergency Management Coordinator. I know you
are originally from Cleveland, I think, Brian, I'm originally from Detroit,
so we have a little the experience with this stuff.
I'm having a little PTSD episode, how about you.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You know, I've never gotten used to this kind of
cold weather, and I don't want to. There's a reason
I live in the South.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
That's right, The reason why we moved to Houston, right
to get away from this, among among others, among other reasons.
All right, Well, we talked yesterday and we had like
twenty two snowplows coming to town. Did they arrive and
if so, have they been dispatched?

Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know, I know that they arrived and were at
least we're in the process of arriving when I went
to bed last night. I'm not sure about dispatched. I'm
sure they were waiting till this morning to find out
where the need was. But I do know from the
text off folks and the you know, we did get
some in town, so that's that's a good first step.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, it's kind of like a Dodo bird. We're not
used to spotting those things either. It's kind of looked
kind of I'm telling the listeners, it kind of looks
like a garbage truck with a big plow on the
front and a dispenser on the back that rotates around
putting stuff on the roadway. In this case sold.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
It's definitely a UFO for our purposes.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
You're right about that. So if we run into any
major problems so far, obviously the roads are the major issue.
Is there anything else in Harris Cunty that's a problem.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
No, And and you know it's still a little bit early.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
I know that our you know, our Counties Engineering Department
and UH department heads you're gonna be checking out facilities
and infrastructure and make sure there's no damage, no reports
so far, which is a good thing.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
And like you said, the roads is the biggest, the
biggest issue, and you.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Know, just judging from the Trenstar cameras, people do seem
to be taking to heart the warning to stay at home.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
And and that's good.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I think that's that's they're gonna be the biggest danger
for folks todays if they decide, yeah, well it stops snowing,
so it's time to get back out on the roads.
Keep in mind, you know, I may know how to
drive in snow, but don't assume that every other Texan
does well. So I think as long as we can
keep you a one homework, we're going to.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Be in good shape.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
And none of us know how to drive on ice.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
No, absolutely not. That's a that's a given, all right, Brian.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Let me let me also ask you about something I
saw come out and this is I don't mean to
put you on the spot here, but there's got contradicting
pieces of advice coming from the City of Houston in
Harris County as relates to whether or not you should
be dripping your faucets. We're going down into the teens tonight,
upper teens to around twenty degrees, and for a lot
of people that means frozen pipes. You know, most plumbers

(02:27):
would tell you to drip the pipe in order to
keep water moving. The city, however, is concerned about that
because of our old infrastructure and some other problems that
they think could lead to water main breaks. So what's
the best advice that we can give people about whether
or not they should be draining their pipes or not.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, that's a tough one.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
And certainly, not being a plumber myself, you know, I'm
hesitant to you know, overrule anyone's instructions on this. But
we've been telling folks, is you know, whoever you're paying
your water bill to, whether it's the City of Houston,
whether it's a municipal utility district, check with them and
see what their recommendation is and follow it. I totally understand,
you know that there's different points of view on this.
We're certainly not going to you know, get in the

(03:05):
middle of it. I do think the things that you
can do that don't make a difference. If you have, say,
pipes under a bathroom vanity, you know, or you know
that are on your exterior walls, Yeah, go ahead and
open up the doors on the vanity. Make sure those
pipes can get some of that warm air. You know,
that's going to help. But as far as the to
drip or not to drip, yeah, I would definitely talk
to your water provider and see what their recommendation is.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
All right, Brian, thank you, appreciate it. Take care of
Harris County Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Murray at six
twenty sixth