Gov. Abbott speaks about ongoing reponse and recovery efforts after hurricane Beryl on Sunday

e [Music] char Wom sure [Music] yeah yeah yeah yeah are we good now good I want to thank everybody for being with us here today we want to update you on the ongoing response to Hurricane Barrel first of all however I want to thank Mattress Mack for hosting this event today but more importantly thank him for what he does for the Greater Houston area every single day uh I'm not familiar with a a citizen a resident uh in any Community anywhere who does more for his community selflessly uh than does Master Mattress Mack the this this this community would not be what it is without you and what you without your unparalleled help especially for those who need it the most so so M thank you very much for what you do thank you governor and for for hosting this so uh as usual our number one goal first and foremost is to protect life uh an issue that we see in the ongoing response to Hurricane Barrel our life-based issues not because of the hurricane itself but because of the lack of power supply uh because of extreme heat because of the lack of the power there are lives at risk every single day also because of that according to the police chief we've seen a slight uptick in criminal Behavior so once again the top priority to make sure that we protect more lives is to make sure we get that power back on as quickly as possible another issue that we are dealing with also once again mostly because of the lack of power uh is a lack of adequate food one thing that the state of Texas has done working with our local officials uh is to provide uh meals that are ready to eat uh delivered uh in whatever amount of Supply is requested by local officials similarly we are facing challenges with regard to water both with regard to the meals meals have been lost uh because people have not had the power on in their house or apartment and as a result uh their food has spoiled and be the the meals are needed because of lack of power the lack of power is because of Center Point same thing with regard to water water is needed for a lot of different reasons uh the state of Texas once again is working with our local Partners to make sure that there are adequate Water Supplies as well as Ice uh that will meet any demand that's articulated uh by local officials another thing that the state of Texas continues to respond to are ongoing medical needs as you are surely aware there are hospitals and other health care facilities that have had lack of power because of that lack of power in healthc care facilities there has been an increased need for the state to assist in providing it could be supplies equipment all different kinds of things to help local Health Care Providers be able to meet the needs of people who are injured people who who are hurt people who were already patients in healthcare facilities that process by the state of Texas to respond to those medical needs continues the last thing I'll mention along these lines right now is uh the ongoing effort by the state of Texas to work with local officials to make sure that their needs concerning Public Safety are met and what that means is continuing the process of the State of Texas uh either bringing in or organizing uh more law enforcement officers uh to assist Houston and other local police making sure they will maintain the safety of their communities the most enduring problem because of barrel however uh is the lack of power the failure of power companies to provide Power to their customers is completely unacceptable power companies along the Gulf Coast must be prepared to deal with hurricanes to State the obvious early appearances however suggest that some power companies are not adequately prepared for a hurricane like Barrel Central Point in particular has repeatedly failed to deliver power to customers for extended periods to accelerate that process and to to make sure that we look into exactly what has happened and what must be done to correct it I am sending a a letter to Thomas gleon today Thomas gleon is the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission uh and the letter uh requires the Pu to undertake an investigation of exactly what has happened by Centerpoint find out what the reason for failure was what must be done to fix it so there will be the the public utilties investigation there'll be investigations and recommendations both by the Pu as well as by state legislators on remedial action to be taken by Centerpoint as well as other power companies I will work with legislators to craft laws to improve power reliability but and here's the important part we are still in hurricane season right now and solutions cannot wait until the next session they are needed now to minimize power disruptions as we respond to Tropical weather for the remainder of the summer and this fall to help avoid more power outages during the remainder of hurricane season I will set the following minimum standards for Centerpoint I will give Centerpoint until July the 31st to provide my office with specific actions that they will take to address the following issues that focus on improving power reliability number one removal of any vegetation that threatens any power line in the the geographic region covered by Center Point Centerpoint admitted that Barrel was a heavy vegetation related storm Cent porn is responsible for eliminating the vegetation before a hurricane hits some reports show that Centerpoint spends far less per customer on vegetation removal than some other power providers so here is my order to Centerpoint they must provide in detail what centero will do to eliminate all vegetation issues and that information must be uh received by I'm sorry the the removal must be accomplished by August the 31st many reports agree that Center Point appeared to have been caught off guard by the unexpected arrival of Barrel in Houston and as well as the magnitude of of the devastation that it caused a power company on the Gulf Coast should never be caught off guard it must remain eternally Vigilant and even then a category one hurricane should never compromise the power system in the state of Texas that is the official hurricane season that we're in right now Centerpoint must specify actions that it will take in the coming months that it did not take in Barrel that will reduce or eliminate power outages in the event of another tropical storm arriving at the Gulf Coast number three Center Point claims that it has assembled thousands of additional linemen and other Personnel to speed the recovery process some reports contend however that many of those workers were slow getting into the field because of a variety of different reasons one was training workers after the hurricane hit rather than training those workers before the hurricane hit another was positioning workers days after the hurricane was gone rather than positioning those workers immediately after the hurricane left another is haggling with workers overpay and the list goes on the bottom line however is this regardless of the reason Senator Point did not have an adequate number of workers pre-staged to immediately address the power outage so my demand upon Centerpoint they must specify what actions they will take to pre-stage a sufficient number of workers to be able to meet the immediate respond to any power outages that may occur for any tropical storm that hits their service region for the remainder of this hurricane season additionally allegations have been made that while Texans have been baking in deadly heat without power Center Point was penny pinching and cutting Corners in ways that slow the recovery process those allegations must be investigated we must know was centerp Point protecting Texans or was it protecting its own pocketbook Center Point admits among other things on another issue that its new polls are better than its old polls especially as it concern concerns grid reliability but at risk to this region Center Point appears to be waiting until the end of hurricane season to address the poll issue it is waiting on a funding decision by the Pu that will take place required by law by the end of October centerp Point must get those polls fixed before hurricane season strikes again before hurricane strikes again not after Hurricane Season is Over another issue Center Point failed to keep power on for some hospitals nursing homes and Senior Living Facilities my demand is that Centerpoint must show with certainty how it will how it will retain or quickly restore power for those at risk Texans before another tropical storm hits and here the ultimate point if Center Point fails to comply with this request or provides insufficient information by July the 31st I will issue an executive order in response to any impending tropical storm to impose my own requirements on Centerpoint that are geared to keep power on through hurricane season until the next legislative session also if Center Point does does not comply I will demand that the Public Utilities Commission reject Center Point's request to recover a profit in its pending request before the Public Utilities Commission additionally if Centerpoint is unable to fix its ongoing problems at some point in time either the Pu or the state of Texas will have to reconsider the territorial region that center point is managing or rather mismanaging maybe they have too large of an area for them to be able to manage adequately it's time to re-evaluate whether or not centerp point should have such a large territory also let me be clear about another Point that's extraordinarily important there are linemen for Centerpoint who are working to get power back on those linemen in many regions across this area are being physically threatened sometimes attacked by people on the streets endangering their lives and discouraging them from even going out into the field and getting the power back on for one if if that there's no reason why anybody here should ever be threatening the life of anybody else period second if if you're angry about the lack of power you're taking out on the wrong person uh if if you're interfering with somebody who's trying to get the power back up also if you're wanting to get the power back on your actions that intimidate or threaten the linemen or whoever is trying to get the power back on you're not speeding up the process of getting the power back on you're slowing that process down last thing I'll say is this this region has a motto and that motto is Houston and strong people in this area are proud of their resilience perseverance and tenacity and the ability to rise above challenges and accomplish things that other people think are impossible that very same Moxy will Elevate this region and our state above this challenge too now Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick thank you Governor I know every wanted centerp point who's in an air conditioned office is watching a freight train's coming you just heard it you better be prepared whether you're at the top or any part of management who oversaw this response or Preparation everybody's job should be on the line we will not and cannot tolerate this I'm sitting here looking at this saying that Mac has up on the wall respect is earned by consistent excellent Behavior over long periods of time Center Point once I would say was a company that we had confidence in all of us up here and most of the public we've had many storms they've responded well they totally failed in preparation and they failed in response they have lost respect from the city of Houston and the surrounding areas that they service I asked 10 questions proposed 10 questions that we will ask during Senate hearings and we will have Senate hearings right now my focus is get everybody to get the power up don't worry about answering the questions today get the power on we have people suffering out there today in 100 degree heat that have not had power and won't have it for another day or two or more but we will have hearings beginning in August and there will be lots of questions but one of my first questions is do Center Point still look at Houston is a priority of their business they're a different company than they used to be is it all as the governor said at the bottom line and not about human life Mac is a successful business person because he says buy it today I'll deliver it tonight well if I don't get my temp repic mattress from Mac tonight I don't die if they don't deliver when they're expected to deliver people have and will die secondly when it comes to storms they were not prepared they did not think this was going to be a serious storm they didn't think it was going to hit Houston it's obvious by their preparation Center Point has to understand as does every utility company on the coast that anytime there's a tropical storm in the Gulf whether it's predicted to be a hurricane or not you have to prepare as if it's going to be the worst storm to hit Houston where the biggest population is or any area they cover or any other company Nim kid and I this past week have worked together and the one thing we said from the first day on and the governor and I talked about the state of Texas has to pray for the best and prepare for the worst Center Point did not prepare for even the least and that's why we are here this is not tolerable and to dovetail on what the governor said about those attacking we had one attack by gunfire on Thursday Two on Friday one yesterday I think we as the legislature need to look at the penalties for that crime and Ratchet it up because let me tell you what some of these people that have come in from States all over the country they turned around and went home who's going to come to Texas and help houstonians if houstonians are shooting at them that must stop there will always be idiots there will always be people who have had too much to drink and people have had too much anger for whatever reason there is no excuse no matter how much you've been sweltering in the heat for criminal behavior and to attack someone as the governor said trying to help you but we're we're going to stop that and you're going to face a long time in in jail if you ever do that so everything the governor has said I can speak for the Senate we're all on board this freight train that's coming and once again I say to centerp point you need to look within your El I don't really care about your internal investigation except to supply us with answers but I want to know are you short of Transformers I want to know as the governor said did you cut Corners I want to know why you've cut your spending on veg vegetation and and clearing the areas I want to know have you been out there negotiating with Crews that came in from out of outter state of how much you're going to pay them and I want to know this business model After the Storm you say you need a day or more of Assessments we get it okay where's the damage and we know there's 48 Hours of training for out of state Crews so they're not electrocuted all systems aren't the same so they don't damage the systems more but if you already have a business model that says I need a day or a day and a half of Assessments and I need two days to train we're already 4 days down the line governor before we're getting power back except the easy e EST cases where you lift a branch or lift a tree that's a bad flawed business model Center Point you better respond or we will support the governor if need be looking at the territory you represent now to Nim kid thank you Governor Life Safety continues to be the number one priority of all the state agencies that are engaged in this Mission that's from the Texas Department of Transportation the Department of Public Safety uh our four service folks the commission on Environmental Quality our search and rescue teams our Public Work Response Team our communication coordination group and right now most importantly our Department of State Health Services emergency medical task force we have opened up a 250 bed field hospital or medical shelter and that has had 120 patients run through that facility that helps alleviate strain on the hospital so that our EMS units can get people dropped off at the ER and get back out on the street for the next 911 call we will continue to bring police and law enforcement support here you have over 80 outside members of the Department of Public Safety on the streets over 100 local law enforcement that we will extend or continue at the direction of Chief sat white who was meeting with us earlier today uh working very closely with mayor Whitmire on these additional resources that we're bringing in from the outside and we have food and water and ice available to our local partners that ask for it uh Governor we continue to Source generators for those locations as power does come back up we're moving those generators around and we are not leaving until power is back on and our system is back to normal thank you now Mattress Mack thank you very much I um I was here Sunday night looking at the weather forecast as all of us houstonians and Texans were and as was said didn't know if the hurricane was going to hit Houston or not but I didn't want to sleep in my luxurious temper Pedic at home and get stuck in the flood water right so I slept in my little bathroom over there on a bad mattress because I have learned in my life that the best ability is availability we wanted to be available in case the uh proverbial stuff hit the fan and it certainly did on Monday so we opened our doors here at galy furniture by the way we've been on a generator power since the hurricane hit we got back on regular power this morning at 400 a.m. but we have we are lucky enough to have a generator here so we can welcome people in we decided to become a cooling center for people and we decided to uh feed them breakfast lunch and dinner and we also decided to uh have a place where they could power their devices Monday through Thursday we had 15,000 people in here about 3,500 people eating every day and we did that because it's the right thing to do I wish I could just hire people to deliver furniture during the busy holiday times when we have a th000 deliveries on the 4th of July and we have 100 the other days we got to gear up for a thousand all the time centerp point doesn't think like that c Center Point's thinking we don't want to spend the money we want to make a lot of bottom line so our exacts can get paid well let me tell you something Mr Center Point all of us we don't summer in Aspen we summer in Houston and this is a real place and these are real people these are my people coming in here crying because they're hot and they're miserable and they're dying these are the people that hospital sent out here that needed a heart rate uh charger for their hearts otherwise they were going to die these are real people mothers coming in here breastfeeding their children because it's so stifling hot at home and the executives at Center pointless don't get that put the people before the prophet put the people before the prophet these are my people and you are making our people suffer through your heartless attitude of money money money money money well you know you can't take it with you one of these days all of us are going to stand in front of our creator whoever we might believe that Creator to be and at that time the Creator is not going to ask you or I how much money Governor did we make or how many material possessions did we accumulate that Creator will ask us what type of difference did you make I don't want to thank these three three men up here and countless First Responders men and women all over our city and county and all the hardworking people who have worked 20 hours today to help people out during this horrible hurricane and Center pointless you ought to be ashamed of yourself not the lon workers the lon workers are the greatest people on Earth we're out here delivering water and Gatorade to them and Chick-fil-A cards yesterday and they're great people from all across the country they're working 16 to 18 hours a day in the sweltering heat but the centerp Point Executives up there cutting cost so their end of the year bonus is bigger shame on you we got to get ready for hurricanes we have hurricanes in Houston we got to get ready for it we got to deal with it and we got to understand at the end of the day H life is not about money life's about making people's lives better and when we have no gasoline in Houston no gasoline you couldn't gas up your car anywhere fist fights everywhere two pregnant women fought down the street about who's going to get gasoline no gasoline how about no food how about a young family that's living paycheck to paycheck that all the food in their refrigerator spoils and all the food in their freezer spoils and that's $1,000 that's a lot of money that just tore up how about all these people at restaurants at retailers at different business manufacturers whatever they had no electricity they closed for the last week and all their employees got zero paycheck how do you deal with that Center pointless you can't deal with that nasp you need to get on the ground in Houston and do your job you need to do your job and I I'll give you one more uh thing to think about Center pointless this is a world now of immediate gratification think Amazon right think Gallery Furniture think cell phones 10 years ago when we had hurricane response out here people would come in here they had no thought of charging their cell phone now they can't live without their cell phone they want to talk and see if their loved ones are okay they want to figure out how to get Geographic directions across Houston and their cell phones the main thing they come in here for is yes they come in here for food and for air conditioning but they're also coming to charge their cell phones and when the power goes down around town for seven days all that's gone so let's put people before profit Center pointless let's think about the people you're you're Char you're causing memory to because misery to because I see them out here every day and it makes me sick I don't care about how much money I make my daddy and my mother taught me how much a difference you going to make boy and that's why we're all here thank you mack and once again thank you for everything that you do for uh this community and for our state we are far better because of you we'll be having to take a few questions we have considered it and actually we spoke about it in the meeting before we came out here a valid point was made that we just need to look into and that is in areas in particular like Houston uh that often times get inundated very heavily uh When Storms Come Through in particular think of hurricane Harvey If you have buried lines uh they the lines could get compromised underwater for a long time and may uh make it even longer to access those lines to improve those lines than it would uh lines that would have been blown down that were otherwise up in in the air just know this uh and that is the the Public Utilities Commission the state legislature and myself we will all look at the possibility of maybe strategic bearing lines maybe with regard to new construction for example and some other ways if it is in areas that will ensure that it's not going to be compromised if it is buried I made certain demands today of Centerpoint that requires Centerpoint to provide solutions to me by July the 31st if they fail to do so I will use the authority given to me by law to use executive orders that have the effect of law that requires Center Point to do what I expect them to do to keep power on in the event that there is another tropical storm that hits this area people so obviously there there will be investigations uh about the loss of life and any connection between the loss of life and the actions of Centerpoint and the the consequences Centerpoint will face for that could vary from local authorities to what the state may do but it certainly will be an issue that the state will evaluate and either there are currently are penalties that are in place or surely is something that the the Pu can use to evaluate as it is currently considering uh the plan before the Pu that will be decided before the end of October uh what type of penalties to impose on CenterPoint they're lying to us and well so you're making a key insightful point and that is as as bad as Center Point has been at keeping the power on they've been worse in communicating with their customers and with the public so the the communications aspect of it is something that the Public Utilities Commission is working on as we speak uh and may impose orders uh on uh Center Point here in the coming weeks it'll also be uh part of my process to to make sure that Center Point is communicating appropriately I will tell you this and and that is it does seem that the communication by Centerpoint is at a new low in other words that they used to do a better job of communicating for reasons none of us can comprehend uh their communication has worsened we were talking before we came out that had Center Point just let the public know listen this is a bad storm power lines are down it's going to take us about a week to get power back up and running again that could have allowed residents to make one set of decisions because they did not say that Center Point did not say that it led customers histon to think well my my power may be back up in 24 to 48 hours and they stuck around only to be left in a hopeless situation bottom line is this the communications component of Centerpoint uh is unacceptable will not be allowed to persist Corrections are coming whether they like it or not go ahead sure I I I give I'll give you both but here here's the deal because part part I'm answer to your first question uh is going to be also provided by Chief Nim kid but let me let me go take your questions in order uh you said what what can the state do to help out so the the state is fully engaged in helping out local communities long before a storm even hits the the the first thing we do is to get organized and make sure that the state and local governments are prepared for whatever type of storm may come in that means that that we are uh sending out uh supplies and resources to every location that could be affected by a storm so that without having to wait we will be able to respond it could be with search and rescue teams it could be with boats it could be with high water Vehicles it could be the the supplies that are needed and on the supplies it's another way that the state has helped out food water ice cooling centers all of those and and so much more the state's been involved in a unique situation here is be because of inadequate power uh it it forced hospitals to have to retain in their Hospital people who were uh injured or had to be taken care of and they could not discharge their patients and as as a result it was this the state that stepped in to assist local government uh to set up the facility at NRG to assist with addressing Health Care situations of local citizens there's more that Chief kid will be able to add but let me answer your second question what happened yesterday today is horrific it's a sad day in America when we see an assassination attempt assassinations to say the least are unacceptable and as sad and horrific as it was to see the former president of the United States of America and a candidate for the presidency again to be attacked in a deadly way we all must understand that in that attack when fellow American loses life another American injured this is not some game uh this is not politics a real human being lost their life a family will never be able to see again so this is a sad and tragic day but we also must understand this this is unfortunately not an isolated incident we have seen during the course of of this hurricane for example here in the Houston area you've seen a sheriff's deputy assassinated that is completely unacceptable you saw another police officer who was shot the the the attack on public officials uh is an outrage another thing about yesterday it's really astonishing that we saw the president former president be shot but suffer only a wound to his ear anybody's thought anything about that nose that had that shot been a millimeter or two different he would have been a victim of assassination Trump is truly blessed by the hand of God being able to evade being assassinated but it shows you when you when you look at what he's been through yesterday the trials and tribulations that he's been through not just yesterday but through the entirety of the past year there's no one in America who has the strength physical mental and emotional to be able to stand up to that to be able to respond to that to be able to deal with all of that he is the the the mightiest Warrior that we have in the United States of America another thing I'll add is is and the last thing I'll add and that is that he showed his character last night in the his first response one thing that Dan and I know because we know him personally that most Americans and most Texans don't know the first thing Donald Trump thinks about is other people and he revealed that and the first thing that he shared publicly with people in the aftermath of getting shot the first thing you talked about was thanking the Secret Service but then the second thing he talked about was not himself but the other victims of what happened that is who he is all the time caring about others before caring about himself and so it's a sad day but a day where Donald Trump showed his character and his resiliency I'll let Chief kid answer the remainder of the question about what Texas has done thank you I think the most important thing uh that we remember about disaster is nobody goes through and nobody does this alone the people that are closest to the citizens are your local elected officials your Mayors your county judges your council members The Next Step Above That is the men and women standing behind me your state representatives and state senators I communicate daily with our local elected officials our team communicates daily with these Offices here as that information gets passed up that's how we know what needs are at the local level our state Emergency Management Council the 39 state agencies that support Disaster Response and Recovery work together to satisfy those needs that are passed to us through our local and state officials with that we are going to continue to provide food water and ice and safety and shelter for as long as it is needed Governor can I go ahead just add something we went to madag gorta we went to Jasper we talked with County judges everywhere we were in Brian College Station we were in Houston within a few days there was not one mayor or one County judge that said they had not gotten what they asked for from the state everything they asked for in advance they had everything they asked for the day after the storm they had or it was on its way like a Gallery Furniture truck so I applaud Nim and I look we have the best em Emergency Management division in the country we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars to our staging Center and College Station that what we had we had our teams in there on Friday from Missouri and Tennessee we had everything ready whether it was divver for rescues boats in the water whatever was needed we were hauling ice in this week from Alabama 10 truckloads why because we don't want to buy all the ice from all the local stores because people are trying to buy their own ice at the local store so we extend and the state has delivered your counties and your cities have delivered I want to salute John Whitmire this was his first not Rodeo he's been to that many of times but this was his first storm and he and chief satte did a tremendous job and have been doing a tremendous job uh and I will say the mayor too like those of us here we care about people and put people first and and so I thank uh the mayor but Nim as as always you and your team and and everyone it's a it's a teered effort and everyone really work together but if we don't have power a lot of things we want to do can't happen go ahead he his I'll come I'll come to you get his hand up right here I'll come back to you next gas electric burning down half the state of California we looked ATN cfor gas ring out a underground storage facility and letting gas Escape into the atmosphere for months and months and months we even sawen fumble that we're living in is it time to reate utilities you know sometimes whenever people see a problem arise uh they think maybe there's more regulation needed or uh you need to impose more heavy-handed government let me tell you the way we discuss this before coming out to help you understand that may not be the right answer I ask a very specific question to the chair of the Public Utilities Commission as well as to Chief nimit and that is are you seeing these same problems with other power companies and I mentioned a few and and the answer everyone agreed upon is we have a lot of power companies in the state of Texas but we're not seeing similar problems with other power companies the point is this this is a an issue and a failing that is unique to center point we don't need to reconstruct a new system we just need better results from one company that has showed repeated failure in this region so the full answer to all this uh is going to be provided by Chief dim kid who has the most information about it so many stations so the question is should it have been requested sooner and the answer is No it should not have been by federal law states are required to do damage assessments now as Governor Patrick mentioned our Texas legislature has put hundreds of millions of dollars into this state's Readiness there was not a piece of equipment not a bottle of water or not a meal ready to eat that we did not have available for our local Partners that's part number one part number two you need to go back and look at all of the Declarations that have been granted by various presidents over the years remember FEMA reimburses after the fact that means these local government have to spend those dollars ahead of time and then apply for reimbursement which on historical averages takes 10 to 12 years to get that money back so we are wasting effort right now talking about how fast things should have done when everything that our local officials asked for was delivered and our stations were set up and our resources were ready ahead of the store so uh with regard to your first question listen I'm I'm taking what I do on a day-by-day basis my priority is making sure that the the people of Houston Texas and this entire region that are affected by Hurricane barrel uh that's my top priority period uh second uh W with regard to uh let's say any type of Declaration or any other action uh that may have been taken had I been here let me make clear about something had I had I been here the entire time there'd be absolutely nothing that would be any different every decision that would have been made would have been exactly the decision I would have made also along those lines L I was in frequent contact with acting Governor Dan Patrick uh I talked to Nim kid three four five six times a day whatever the number was and know this and and that is our daily or let's say nightly conversations ended with the same five words every day are there any unmet needs and that's always the goal making sure we finish every single day with no unmet needs I got the same answer every every time there were no un needs so again right now my decision uh is to remain here and make sure that we are addressing the needs of the public I'm working on a day-by-day basis today is Sunday uh I can tell you I'm going to be here tomorrow this a fact uh and we'll we'll see how things progress uh with regard to the response to Hurricane Barrel thank you very thank you hear you but thought you all