Recovery efforts are underway in downtown Houston after winds reached 100 miles per hour last week but it could be months before the country’s fourth-largest city returns to normal.
And with hurricane season just 10 days away, the clock is ticking to ensure buildings battered with storm damage are secure.
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“It’s not a weeklong process. It’s several months of work that goes into this,” said Chris Sneck, executive vice president at Cotton Global Disaster Solutions.
His company has been hired to make repairs on six towers that were damaged. They started cleanup efforts hours after the storm hit.
An estimated 4,000 windows were blown out, according to Downtown Houston+, which left shattered glass spread across several city blocks.
Nearly a week later, glass still litters streets and some chunks have not stopped falling.
To give you an idea of the danger that still exists downtown Houston, this is glass falling from a skyscraper mid-interview this afternoon, nearly a week after the storm blew out thousands of windows. @DowntownHouston is warning people not to walk on closed streets. @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/8hwZ6aKTsD
— KPRC 2 Bryce Newberry (@KPRC2Bryce) May 23, 2024
Blinds are dangling out of some skyscraper windows still and crews are working to board up others as quickly as possible.
“Just making sure getting them tightened up for hurricane season, making sure you can keep the water out,” Sneck said. "You really just don’t want the buildings to take on any more damage.”
One phase of the work will focus on waterproofing, he said.
Replacement windows will have to be custom designed and ordered for each building, he said. Temporary glass may be needed if manufacturers don’t have the exact fit.
He couldn’t put an exact timeline on when downtown would look how it did once again.
“To say, you know, it’s going to be six months or it’s going to be 12 months - it’s hard to put an exact number on it. I can definitely say that some of them will come together quicker just because of maybe availability of materials or how the damages are to that building,” Sneck said.
Downtown roads, sidewalks closed
During the cleanup process, the City has closed several downtown streets. Leaders are also asking people to avoid walking on closed streets over concerns of more falling glass.
As of Wednesday evening, this is the latest closure information:
Ongoing restoration work requires continued road and sidewalk closures in the focused area of Downtown where window repairs are concentrated. Lamar Street From Fannin to Milam has reopened, and Travis from Dallas to Lamar has reopened.
— Downtown Houston (@DowntownHouston) May 22, 2024
Pedestrians and sightseers are still… pic.twitter.com/EorNV3miZh
“It took me almost an hour to get out of downtown,” said Maricela Lopez, who works in the area.
KPRC 2 cameras captured bumper to bumper rush hour traffic Wednesday evening which was being directed by Houston police officers. The closures have made some commutes much longer.
"Normally it takes me 45 minutes with traffic door to door. And then it’s been taking me an hour and a half to two hours to get from my house to work,” said Christy Jamshedji, who also works downtown. “Mother Nature, it is frustrating.”
KPRC 2 spoke with three small business downtown who said sales have dropped since the storm and one manager compared it to how it was during the pandemic.
Mayor John Whitmire has asked non-essential downtown employees to work remotely at least through Memorial Day Weekend.
The road closures are expected to remain in effect at least until then as well.
Photos of downtown damage
Take a look at photos captured over the last week showing the extent of the damage in Houston.