Deer Park city workers Matt Hicks and Stephen Olsen add new insulation to exposed pipes in the median of the 1900 block of Center St. on Wednesday. An official with a Houston plumbing company says residents are focusing more on preparing for this week's expected freeze than they were during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
“This freeze is hitting us at, if not the worst weekend of the year, then one of the top three worst weekends it could happen on. So, we’re just making adjustments,” said Eccles. “Securing the materials to take care of our customers and adjusting our work schedules — those are the two biggest things we want to do.”
At Deer Park Lumber, 1600 Center St., Deer Park, operations manager Russell McKay has been seeing a rush of customers eager to prepare for the weather. Likewise, Eccles said his company has seen an increase in calls in the past week from people desiring to head off potential problems. “I think absolutely changes people’s perception of things,” he said. “Because of what happened then, people are more apt to take precautions needed and take things more seriously. You can see it at places like Home Depot, where as soon as was reported, people were not waiting until the last minute and are already trying to get ahead of this thing versus the other.”