Inside look at downtown Houston’s rebuilding after wind damage to estimated 4,000 windows

Recovery efforts are underway in downtown Houston after winds reached 100 miles per hour last week, but it could be months before the nation’s fourth-largest city returns to normal .

And with hurricane season just ten days away, time is running out to ensure the safety of storm-damaged buildings.

“This is not a week-long process. It takes several months of work,” said Chris Sneck, executive vice president of Cotton Global Disaster Services.

His company was hired to repair six damaged towers. They began cleanup efforts within hours of the storm’s onset.

According to Downtown Houston+, approximately 4,000 windows were blown out, leaving shards of glass spread across several blocks.

Nearly a week later, windows still litter the streets and some pieces continue to fall.

Blinds still hang from the windows of some skyscrapers and crews are working to close others as quickly as possible.

“Just make sure you tighten them up for hurricane season, making sure you can keep the water out,” Sneck said. “You really don’t want buildings to take 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. A temporary lens may be necessary if manufacturers do not have an exact fit.

He couldn’t put a firm date on when downtown would return to its current state.

“To say, you know, it’s going to be six months or it’s going to be 12 months – it’s hard to give an exact number. I can definitely say that some of them will come together more quickly just because of the availability of materials or the amount of damage to that building,” Sneck said.

Downtown roads, sidewalks closed

During the cleanup process, the City closed several downtown streets. Leaders are also asking people to avoid walking on closed streets for fear of further falling glass.

Wednesday evening, here is the latest closing information:

“It took me almost an hour to get out of downtown,” said Maricela Lopez, who works in the neighborhood.

KPRC 2 cameras captured rush hour traffic Wednesday evening directed by Houston police officers. The closures have lengthened some journeys.

“Normally it takes me 45 minutes with door-to-door traffic. And then it takes me an hour and a half to two hours to get from my house to work,” said Christy Jamshedji, who also works downtown. is frustrating.

KPRC 2 spoke with three small businesses downtown who said sales have dropped since the storm and one manager compared them to what they were during the pandemic.

Mayor John Whitmire has asked non-essential downtown employees to work remotely at least through Memorial Day weekend.

Road closures are also expected to remain in effect at least until then.

Photos of downtown damage

Take a look at photos taken last week showing the extent of the damage in Houston.