Update: Glass and debris is still being cleaned up downtown, so a section of Travis Street from McKinney to Polk downtown will remain closed as an "exclusion zone," the city said Monday, May 20.
Also, other parts of the Houston area are still dealing with problems with traffic signals and storm debris, according to media reports and announcements from organizations such as Cypress-Fairbanks ISD.
The original story from Friday, May 17 appears below.
The severe storm that rolled through Houston on May 16 hit downtown hard, blowing out hundreds of office windows and leveling much of the area’s greenery.
But by the next morning, Downtown Houston+ had more than 170 people downtown cleaning up shattered glass, even as shards continued to fall from about 15 office towers that suffered damage.
Downtown Houston+ President and CEO Kris Larson told the Houston Business Journal that he and his team got to work last night after the storm wound down, focusing on a 12-block area bordered by McKinney Street to the north, Polk Street to the south, Smith Street to the west and Main Street to the east.
“There’s almost like a blast area where the storm was most strong,” Larson said. “The No. 1 priority is the glass, which is everywhere. We’ve had to bring in dump trucks and front-end loaders to handle a lot of the glass and debris. But we’ve got people out here with push brooms as well. They’re wearing hardhats because there’s still falling glass coming down.”
Downtown Houston+ is working with the Houston Police Department to secure the areas that were most affected, closing off streets and sidewalks to allow cleanup crews to move freely.
“They're going to be putting about 20 officers out there to limit the number of pedestrians that are moving within that zone,” Larson said. “And because there's some looky-loos out trying to take pictures, we’ve got to keep the focus on safety. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Amid the cleanup efforts, Larson and his team are also working to update property owners on the extent of the damage to their buildings.
“It’s a process of us reaching out to them and them reporting damage to us,” Larson said. “It might be a week before some of these buildings get repaired because the property owners are going to have to bring in teams to replace the windows and clean up their offices.”
Click here to read the HBJ's recent cover story on Downtown Houston+'s ongoing effort to address office vacancies downtown.
In a statement, New York-based Brookfield Properties confirmed that TotalEnergies Tower at 1201 Louisiana St. did sustain a notable amount of window damage, which is being addressed. However, Heritage Plaza, Houston Center and Allen Center, which Brookfield also owns, are operating as normal, the company said.
"We will update our tenants with any pertinent information as it becomes available, but we do ask everyone to follow guidelines from local authorities today and through this weekend," Brookfield said.
A spokesperson for Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) — which has towers at 1500 Louisiana St. and 1400 Smith St. — said in an email that the company's downtown campus suffered a number of blown-out windows.
"Many workers are on a hybrid schedule and work from home most Fridays," the spokesperson said. "We anticipate safely bringing the workforce back next week after we clean up the property."
The Kinder Morgan Building, at 1001 Louisiana, also sustained damage on several floors, a spokesperson for Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) confirmed.
"No injuries have been reported and all Kinder Morgan and contractor personnel have been accounted for," the KMI spokesperson said in a statement to the HBJ. "The building has been secured and clean-up and repair activities are underway. We do expect the damage to take several days to repair and are staying in close contact with our employees and contractors regarding when it is safe to return to the office."
However, the situation is not significantly impacting the company's operations.
Houston First Corp. confirmed that the George R. Brown Convention Center, the Hilton Americas Houston hotel and other facilities it operates did not sustain any significant damage during Thursday evening’s storm.
"However, we recognize that many businesses and residents in our region were not as fortunate, and we stand with the rest of our community in the ongoing recovery," Houston First said in a statement.
Downtown Houston+ has tapped into an emergency fund to cover the cost of cleanup, and Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s office has reached out to the state for additional public safety resources, Larson said.
Once the initial cleanup is completed, Larson said Downtown Houston+ will focus on replacing the more than 200 trees that were leveled by the storm.
“We will begin the process of replanting soon,” Larson said.
Despite the damage and Whitmire urging residents to stay away from the area, life is carrying on downtown. Many businesses are continuing to operate, and both the Astros and the Houston Dash plan to host home games May 17. The Houston Dynamo are scheduled for a May 18 home game.
“The same is true of the Theater District,” Larson said. “The performing arts organizations want the show to go on, as you would expect.”
Larson said he’s not too worried about the storm’s impact on businesses downtown. It is inconvenient, sure, but Houston is used to weathering storms, he said.
“If anything, this just shows how responsive the community is in a time like this,” Larson said. “We called six contractors to have them come in, and every one of them said ‘yes’ immediately when we called them this morning to ask for help. That’s the great thing about Houston — it serves as something that helps our community come together and support one another.”
Reporter Naomi Klinge contributed to this report.
