Conroe, Montgomery Begin Recovery After Hurricane Beryl Hits Houston

After Hurricane Beryl hit the Greater Houston area on July 8, the Conroe and Montgomery area began to recover.

What happened

Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Matagorda as a Category 1 storm around 4 a.m. on July 8. Community impact Beryl then passed through Houston, leaving millions of people without power.

The Conroe and Montgomery area saw about 5 inches of rain between July 7 and 11, according to the Harris County Flood Warning System.

The options

In an effort to help those affected by the hurricane, local entities in Conroe and Montgomery have opened centers with electricity.

Shelters and cooling stations include:

• Lone Star Community Center, 2500 Lone Star Parkway, Montgomery
• West County Community Development Center, 31355 Friendship Drive, Magnolia
• Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Parish, 26777 Glen Loch Drive, The Woodlands
• Montgomery Community, 12681 FM 149, Montgomery

Conroe Connection Transit also announced free rides on all fixed routes in the downtown area. Trips run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

In Montgomery, the city’s public works department offers free curbside pickup of branches up to 10 feet long and tree debris, Monday through Friday, with no call required.

Conroe’s debris pickup has no set time or date, but the city is asking residents to place debris on their sidewalks. Conroe Mayor Duke Coon said the recovery effort to remove all the debris could take four to six weeks.

What else?

Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough and Coon each signed disaster declarations for Montgomery and Conroe counties, respectively.

What they say

At the Conroe City Council workshop meeting on July 10, Conroe Public Works Director Norman McGuire said the main focus right now is on infrastructure and providing residents with a place to take their debris for collection.

“We’re going to authorize our permanent contracts, so we have a lot of troops that are going to come and land in Conroe, which would be a good thing,” McGuire said. “That’s going to speed up our recovery there. It’s estimated that there’s between 60,000 and 80,000 cubic yards of yard waste on the ground. So it’s going to take some time to get that picked up, but we’ll get it done.”

Coon said city staff are working hard to provide assistance to the community.

“We will weather this storm as we have weathered all the storms that have come before us,” Coon said. “I would ask our citizens to be patient. It will take time to recover.”

Zoom out

President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration following Hurricane Beryl, and cities can now receive grants and federal aid, as previously reported by Community impact.