City crews and contractors continue to work to identify, isolate and/or repair broken water lines and refill the City’s water tanks and water towers; at the same time, City officials will activate a hotline and webpage for residents to seek information.
City officials anticipate that the system will be fully restored in about two to three days, although some residents may see service return before then. Yesterday, City crews completed filling up the main tanks at Water Plant No. 3, and additional storage capacity is actively being filled up at the water plant this morning. The additional capacity at the water plant is expected to be filled today. Thereafter, crews will immediately work to fill the remaining water towers.
Water line breaks continue to be identified, isolated and/or repaired by City and Contractors crews. As of yesterday, 100 identified areas had been sealed off to mitigate leaks. An additional 34 areas were isolated yesterday evening, and another 35 meters were reported to City staff by this morning.
In addition, City staff secured 12 pallets of water from Canteen Victoria to be divided between community partners Citizens Medical Center and DeTar Hospital, and the City continues to work to identify additional sources of water to help meet the needs of the community. Each hospital will be receiving six pallets containing 288 cases, a total of 6,912 bottles of water. Bottled water of any kind has become scarce because of the increased demand as cities throughout the region experience system failures.
The phone number residents have been asked to report leaks to – 361-485-3381 – will be activated this morning at 10 a.m. as a hotline. Residents will be able to call the hotline and ask general questions about our situation and seek updates, resources, and relevant information. Water leaks can continue to be reported to this hotline. In addition, a new webpage – www.victoriatx.gov/waterboil – has been created that contains all daily water-related news releases, virtual briefing videos, and resources.
Restoring water service to all of Victoria will likely take two to three days, City officials said during a press briefing Wednesday. Residents are encouraged to keep their water faucets turned off so that water pressure can rebuild in the system.
Mayor Rawley McCoy and City Manager Jesús A. Garza provided an update to local media and the public via a Zoom webinar broadcast live to Facebook to discuss the recent interruptions in the City’s water system and other issues related to the historic winter weather in Victoria. The press briefing can be viewed in its entirety on the City’s Facebook page and on Suddenlink cable channels 15 and 115.
Unlike the water failure that occurred during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which was the result of a power outage, the loss of water service that many residents are experiencing is a result of two factors: water main lines breaking as pipes thaw and increased demand on the system due to the severe winter weather.
The City will continue to host daily press briefings and provide daily written updates through email, its social media channels, partnership with local media, and the new webpage www.victoriatx.gov/waterboil. The City also will continue to share pressing information and updates throughout the day as more information becomes available on its website and social media pages. Governor Abbot will be providing a statewide update at 3 p.m., so today’s local virtual briefing will take place at 4 p.m. All other daily local briefings are planned to take place at 3 p.m.
City and County leaders have been attending daily meetings since the storm began to discuss solutions to the problems Victoria is facing.