CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Tuesday night the City of Corpus Christi is closely monitoring the approach of the wintery mix, with the biggest concern being the potential for icy bridges and roadways.
On Thursday temperatures will make a dramatic dip bringing with it the potential for dangerous conditions.
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo said the city is looking at activating warming centers Thursday though Saturday if the need becomes urgent.
"We are also coordinating with some of our departments like animal care services, coordinating with our homeless services," Guajardo said.
Another concern is getting to work and school. The Texas Department of Transportation(TxDOT) is already pre-treating the highways with a focus on bridges and overpasses, which are normally the first to ice over.
Some trouble areas from previous weather events include the JFK Causeway, SPID, the Harbor Bridge, and the Nueces Bay Causeway. Roland Mata with the Corpus Christi Public Works Department said his team will have crews patrolling the streets in areas like Calallen and Annaville which could see freezing temps first before those on the southside. He adds that families can help by making sure their sprinkler systems are shut down.
"Because one of the biggest things we see, is someone forgets to shut down, all that rainfall coming onto the street can freeze up during an ice event like this," Mata said.
Mata said last year's historic freeze was a lesson learned.
"Last year, one of the things we noted is making sure we have plenty of stop signs, that is one of the things we did, and increase our inventory of barricades."
The potential for freezing rain to build up on powerlines as well as expected strong winds also has AEP Texas on standby with crews at the ready.
Larry Jones with AEP Texas said those who rely on electricity for medical reasons should make sure that they have alternate sources of power incase of pockets of power outages.
"Customers on life support or other medical equipment that rely on electricity should always have a backup plan in the event of an extended outage," Jones said. "We are going to do everything possible to quickly restore power, however we can't guarantee how long that restoration effort can take."
Jones also adds that while ERCOT and AEP Texas aren't asking customers to cut back on power use, he said it's important to know how to be energy efficient.
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