Watson Wire: Hot Wire
We’re facing yet another weather emergency in Austin, but this one differs from what we all endured in February for several reasons – including the obvious 80-degree temperature swing.
The City Council brought in Jesús Garza to serve as interim city manager in the wake of Winter Storm Mara with a mandate to focus on how to improve basic city services, including the city’s emergency response. Under the previous management, the city had failed to implement key lessons learned during Winter Storm Uri in 2021 and that contributed to the extended power outage and public frustration with the city’s communication.
A key step we’ve taken to ensure the city is prepared and responsive to you during an emergency is the appointment of Ken Snipes as the new Director of Emergency Management. I’m glad he’s in this position.
Here are some other steps we’ve taken:
Communication: We will make sure information is regularly provided to the public that outlines how to stay safe, what is happening with the weather, and how the city is using its resources to help people who need assistance. Outreach communication staff are coordinating across departments and sharing messaging on social media. Information includes available cooling center locations, recognizing heat illness and actions to take to prevent it, and protecting children, elderly, and pets during hot weather.
Coordination: At my request, and working with the City Manager, we’ve activated the city team that coordinates the run-up to this emergency to ensure we’re prepared and being proactive. This might sound pretty basic, but the lack of that internal coordination was a major problem in February. We’ve also bolstered our efforts to work in concert and share information among the Big 5 public partners – City of Austin, Travis County, Austin ISD, Austin Community College, and the University of Texas.
Collaboration: Working with all our outreach networks, including faith-based and non-profit organizations, we’re reaching out to our most vulnerable populations. Austin Public Health is in contact with area hospitals and nursing homes to offer any support and assistance necessary. In the case of an energy emergency, Austin Energy (AE) will proactively contact customers on its Medically Vulnerable Registry. AE also has crews on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond immediately to outages.
Fading the Heat
In a news conference this morning, we hit on some key points for all of you to prepare for this extreme weather. The biggest takeaway? You are not invincible. This heat and humidity are dangerous. Knowing how to be safe during this excessive heat warning is important to protecting yourself and vulnerable populations.
Look before you lock ?– Even if you think you will only be away for a second, NEVER leave children and pets inside a locked vehicle. Even in the mid-60s, the outside temperature can cause the inside of a vehicle to rise above 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Stay hydrated ?- Drink more water than usual. If you’re feeling dehydrated, you probably are.
Protect your pets ?- Provide your pets with plenty of water and shade. Speaking of pets, the city is offering free adoptions at the animal shelter for the foreseeable future. The goal is to get more people to take pets home so that we better manage capacity and, consequently, are better able to keep animals from needing to be outside.
Work and play safely ?- Avoid high-energy activities and exercise during extreme heat, especially during the afternoon. If you have to be outside, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water and staying in the shade.
Check in on elderly family members, friends and neighbors ?- Make sure they have access to air conditioners and/or fans and clean water for hydration.
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Cooling Centers
Due to extreme heat, all Parks and Library facilities will serve as Cooling Centers during normal operating hours.?Service animals are permitted in City facilities.?Check hours and operations before arriving.
Water Breaks for Employees
The City of Austin takes the safety of our employees very seriously. Supervisors should ensure that employees working outdoors, working indoors without air conditioning or ventilation, take scheduled breaks in cool areas. Ensure there is plenty of cool water to drink on-site and take water breaks as needed.
In light of recent legislation, there might be some confusion out there about the city’s ordinance requiring water breaks for construction workers.
Let’s be clear: the city’s ordinance is still in effect. Employees performing construction activities at a construction site are entitled to a rest and water break every four hours. The new state law that preempts our ordinance does not go in effect until September 1 so employers are still subject to the city water break ordinance.
ERCOT and Austin Energy
ERCOT issued a Voluntary Conservation Notice— a pre-emergency measure— on June 19 due to extreme heat and forecasted record demand. City of Austin followed ERCOT’s voluntary notice and reduced consumption at city facilities. Even though that notice has expired, and we do not expect any more measures to be taken by ERCOT for the remainder of the week, I would like to remind folks to conserve energy during peak usage hours in the afternoon to lighten the load.
Austin Energy crews are ready to respond to customer needs and are working in the field through this extreme summer heat.
Be Cool to Our Public Servants
Finally, we have a lot of city and county employees providing public service in this extreme heat. Please take notice and thank them for their hard work.
And stay safe.
Regulatory, Marketing, Management, Human Resources
1 年Very much appreciate city getting back on the vegetation management. ERCOT seems to be doing a good job of grid management to help avoid rolling blackouts. My concern is what is the city doing with distribution to remove non-critical load from critical load circuits so that rolling can really happen if there are unforeseen changes and ERCOT requires load reduction? ERCOT’s demands last time were so much that people, even critical care customers, were without electricity because of inability to roll.
Founder & CEO of TexChange Unbrokered Inc.
1 年Thank you for all you’re doing for our city. I recall last summer I was working as a contractor to support development of an R&D site near Austin. The heat index ranged between 108-115 degrees. Many contractors and company workers suffered from heat exhaustion. I myself a fit 29 year old who grew up in Texas, ran cross country,training in the humid heat, and built my bones in the construction industry fell out on a 115 degree day. The last time I fell out was a little over a decade ago and I recall the heat index at 117. I hope other towns and cities will look to your leadership for inspiration to protect our workers. Even the most innovative companies that are starting up and establishing themselves in Texas need blue collar workers to construct and maintain their facilities where the workers must face and endure such extremeties as a part of their work everyday. This hits home for me and I hope we can do more together to continue the federal push to support innovation in the US but to do so with the highest health and safety standards for our workers; the trades, the miners, the roughnecks, etc.
Sr. Energy Executive
1 年Mayor Kirk Watson, you have said publicly on many occasions that Prop B must be enforced, as we the voters passed it and there is a corresponding state law. But so far, we have not seen Prop B enforcement. What bare you doing and when will it happen?
Texas Venture Newsletter Editor
1 年Mayor, love that you're doing these. Thanks for the updates, and important last note "be cool to our public servants". Appreciate the work being done on all fronts!