By Communications Specialist Sam Hankins
This article originally appeared in the June issue of Texas Town & City, published by the Texas Municipal League.
PHOTO #1: From top left, City Manager Jesús A. Garza, Mayor Rawley McCoy and Communications & Public Affairs Director Ashley Strevel appear on a public press briefing via Zoom to discuss Winter Storm Uri and its impacts on the City’s water system.
When temperatures in Texas drop below freezing for any length of time, many people’s thoughts return to a fateful week in February 2021.
“It could happen again,” said City of Victoria Public Works Director Ken Gill. “Every city fears that.”
Victoria fared similarly to many Texas cities as Winter Storm Uri ravaged infrastructure throughout the state. First the blackouts began; then, the faucets ran dry.
The City of Victoria faced this emergency with a strategy informed by COVID-era crisis response tactics, with attention to critical infrastructure complemented by a robust communications strategy. Although no one knows when the next freeze will hit, City leaders are taking the lessons learned during Winter Storm Uri to ensure that the local response will only get better.
Understanding human nature
Communications Director Ashley Strevel was no stranger to crisis communications, having spearheaded the City’s communications strategy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, up to and including the vaccination clinics that had scarcely begun when the forecast came.
In some ways, the department’s preparations for Winter Storm Uri resembled those efforts: the coordination with the Victoria City/County Office of Emergency Management, the regular calls with outside agencies (in this case, the National Weather Service)—and the realization that human nature was likely to throw a few unexpected curveballs.
“When the pandemic started, we didn’t realize that people were going to rush the stores for toilet paper,” Strevel recalled. “As communicators, we can provide people with reliable and accurate information, but we can’t always control the outcome.”
Most South Texas had about as much experience with freezing weather before 2021 as they had with global pandemics before 2020. Knowing this, Strevel’s team worked to share some basic safety tips with the public—protect your pipes, watch for ice on the road—alongside more mundane updates about office closures.
Amid the uncertainty about how to prepare, rumors began to spread. Might the City try to protect pipes by shutting off water? Victoria had lost water service during Hurricane Harvey, and the memory of hissing faucets and non-flushing toilets stoked fears that the freeze would bring similar consequences.
On Monday evening, with a thin layer of snow on the ground outside, the Communications department posted a firm statement on Facebook, promising that the City would not shut off anyone’s water unless a homeowner requested it.
Less than 24 hours later, the responses came trickling in: Then why isn’t my water running?
Why the water wasn’t running
The Public Works department’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) equipment monitors the City’s water reserves and provides updates to Gill and his staff—when the hardware isn’t frozen solid.
“The equipment was protected by standard weatherization,” Gill said. “We were prepared for ordinary winter weather, but not for a freeze of this intensity and duration.”
Public Works staff braved the cold to travel to work sites and read the water levels manually. As they did, they made a troubling discovery: While the frozen gauges had been giving staff a “full” reading, the towers had been draining quietly—and quickly.
Staff’s suspicion as to the cause would be confirmed in the coming days. Fears of frozen pipes had led some residents to run all their faucets full-blast, including whole apartment complexes that had shared incorrect information with tenants.
Public Works began pumping more to keep up with demand, and for a while, it worked. Still, a few residents did lose water at the start of the freeze—those whose pipes had frozen shut or, worse, broken.
“People’s water lines were freezing through the insulation,” Gill said. “The City’s lines were fine, but we were seeing private line breaks throughout the system.”
Then, the pipes thawed. Water surged through the broken pipes. Before long, residents’ worst fears came true as the faucets ran dry.
“It’s hard to fill a cup that’s full of holes,” Gill said.
Straight from the source
As the City began to receive panicked inquiries from residents who had lost water service, Strevel’s first task was to separate fact from fiction.
“We had to explain that no, the City wasn’t shutting off water, but we also had to tell them what really was happening,” Strevel said. “At first we thought that some pipes might have broken in a few neighborhoods, but it was all over the city.”
Strevel reached out to Gill and learned the sobering truth: The numerous private line breaks, combined with earlier overconsumption and the lack of warning from the SCADA system, had emptied the City’s water reserves.
As Gill’s team worked to restore service, Strevel sought to calm the growing anxiety using a tool that had served the City well during the early days of COVID-19: daily press briefings.
At 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, Strevel, Mayor Rawley McCoy and City Manger Jesús A. Garza took part in a Zoom call with local media that was shared live on Facebook and on Victoria’s municipal cable channel, providing a straightforward update on what had happened, what the City was doing to fix it and what residents ought to do in the meantime.
“Having that virtual face-to-face time with local leaders is comforting in a way that goes beyond just sharing information,” Strevel said. “People want to know that they’re getting information straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Throughout the coming days, Strevel’s team committed to providing a written update every morning and a press conference every afternoon, detailing the gradual restoration of water service and emphasizing instructions for residents: Keep your faucets closed. Report leaks. If there is a leak on your property, ask the City to shut your water off until it is repaired. And when you do get water back, remember the water boil notice. A hotline was set up to answer residents’ questions.
Along with practical advice, the updates helped help residents understand what they were experiencing. No, the water plant didn’t lose power. After Harvey, the City had added a robust backup generator, which was working just fine. This was a new type of challenge.
The steady stream of updates provided a sense of stability in the storm Victoria was experiencing—stability that Strevel herself appreciated all the more when she lost power one evening with her infant son at home. Though she was able to lean on family for help, she knew that others were not so fortunate.
“Being close to the source of information can be reassuring when you’re in survival mode, and that reassurance is exactly what we wanted to share with our residents,” Strevel said.
Finally, on Friday afternoon, officials held their final press conference, letting residents know that water service had been fully restored and adding that the water boil notice was expected to be lifted in the coming days.
Things began to return to normal as staff went back to their offices and continued to answer questions about the water boil notice, meter shutoffs and other lingering issues. But the biggest question was, How can we prepare for next time?
‘The City’s biggest improvement’
PHOTO #2: Communications & Public Affairs Director Ashley Strevel and Public Works Director Ken Gill appear in a 2025 PSA about appropriate preparations for freezing weather.
PHOTO #3: A monitor in the office of Public Works Operations and Maintenance Manager Gregory Rodriguez shows data from the City’s upgraded monitoring software, including real-time updates on water availability.
When temperatures in Victoria are about to drop below freezing for any length of time, Public Works staff reach out to local apartment complexes and other high-volume water users with a simple but urgent message: Don’t let all your faucets run.
Communications & Public Affairs has likewise tailored its pre-freeze messaging with Winter Storm Uri in mind. PSAs and social media posts remind residents to protect their pipes responsibly, with a steady drip of water from the faucet furthest from the meter—nothing more, nothing less. The department also encourages residents to sign up for the City’s free water monitoring service, WaterWise, which can detect spikes in usage caused by hidden leaks.
“Personal responsibility is a key component of emergency preparation,” Strevel said. “Even as the City reviews our own processes, we encourage the public to likewise evaluate how they can better prepare and help us protect our water supply.”
Gill reports that these measures have been effective in reducing consumption during the freezes that the City has experienced since, allowing Public Works to keep up with demand.
The reminders about protecting pipes are usually accompanied by some tips about backup power, particularly generator safety. Previously Communications would share this advice during the summer as part of its hurricane season messaging, but after watching the grid fail, the department has adapted to the reality that power outages are not solely a warm-weather phenomenon.
Another new addition is the City’s mass notification system, powered by Everbridge, which allows Communications to reach residents via text, email and robocalls. During a serious freeze, the system could be used to send updates to utility customers: City working to restore water. Close your faucets. Call Public Works to report leaks.
Public Works has also improved its preparations at every level, from the equipment used to the steps taken ahead of a freeze. Water monitoring equipment has been upgraded to withstand prolonged freezes. Software has been updated to show the current water volume in the tanks—not just elevation—and provide real-time updates. The draining and cleaning of basins—which is generally done during the winter, when water consumption is lower—is only conducted if there are no freezes in the forecast that could cause demand to spike.
Gill intends to pursue further upgrades, including greater redundancy to protect against software issues and improved remote access to allow key personnel to view information and make adjustments from wherever they may be.
Even so, he recognizes that the progress made so far—particularly in the areas of communications and promoting personal responsibility—have been a huge step in the right direction.
“Citizen communication has been the City’s biggest improvement,” Gill said. “When residents can work together to meet these challenges, we get to say to 65,000 people, ‘Congratulations, Victoria—we won.’”
Waiting for the true test
PHOTO #4: During the January 2025 snowfall, Communication & Public Affairs invited residents to share their snow pics on social media.
During Victoria’s most recent snowfall, as the Communications team was sharing updates about road conditions and trash pickup delays, staff made a decision: If no serious weather-related effects were observed by the afternoon, they would ask residents to share their snow pics on Facebook.
“We adjust the tone of the messaging according to the situation,” Strevel said. “If the situation is urgent, then we communicate that and encourage people to take action, but if it isn’t so serious, then being lighthearted can help people to stay calm.”
Although the lessons of Winter Storm Uri have served Victoria well during the freezes since, Strevel and Gill know the truth: The City’s systems have not yet been tested the way they were during Uri.
The only thing that is certain is that by continuing to improve Victoria’s infrastructure as well as the ways that the City communicates with residents, local leaders will be better prepared to meet any storm that may come Victoria’s way.