Morning Tornado Briefing: The Hard Work Continues
The roads are finally passable (with the exception of Preston Road and Royal, where even yesterday the northbound lane was blocked off), and everyone that can have electricity has it. But now as the debris is carted off, the reality (and scars) become apparent — Preston Hollow took a giant hit that is going to take years to recover from.
But as you will see in the next few months (we guarantee it), the community that pitched in to help each other will continue to do so. New homes will go up, repairs will be made, and eventually, beloved stores will reopen.
Take it as a sign of great progress that after this week, we will begin doing these updates once a week, with the more urgent items being shared on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.
City Update
The Office of Emergency Management’s Multi-Agency Resource Center, located at 9509 Midway Road, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday. Sometime today, AT&T will have established a contact number for MARC.
The Red Cross will remain at the MARC through Friday, administering its assistance program for households whose residences sustained major damage from the tornado. Qualified households will be eligible for $450 to support emergency needs.
If you’re still seeing traffic signals out during your commute, the transportation department is focusing on arterial streets, and says that quite a few traffic signals may need to be completely rebuilt.
Just a reminder — flashing signals should be treated as four-way stops.
Dallas police are continuing to open streets when they are cleared, and are maintaining a security footprint in neighborhoods that were affected by the tornado.
City sanitation crews are now joined by contractors and mutual aid partners in cleaning up impacted areas. There are 125 collection vehicles working currently, including city crews, public works, code compliance, Dallas Water Utilities, crews from partner cities, and contractors.
More emergency contractors will potentially be approved tomorrow, and if they are, the city hopes to resume normal bulk trash removal services starting next week in the Week 3 and Week 4 areas.
Reliant Gives Direct Donation for Teacher Supplies
Yesterday, we told you that Reliant announced it would like to help teachers at the three schools hit hardest by the Oct. 20 tornadoes by donating $25,000 directly to the schools for teacher supplies..
Hundreds of teachers at Thomas Jefferson High School, Cary Middle School, and Walnut Hill Elementary were moved to new schools, they had to rush to set up new classrooms, and had lost all of their materials in the destruction as well.
Learning Express Toys Holds Book, School Supply Drive
Learning Express Toys of Dallas will collect books and school supplies for the Walnut Hill Elementary School due to the recent damage caused by last Sunday’s tornado.
The effort will run through Nov. 28 at the store, located at 4500 Lovers Lane.
The toy store is stocked with books, markers, construction paper, stickers, and various supplies that students can use at school. Customers can take 25 percent off their purchase of items donated to the school.
Store owner Kathryn Cook saw the importance of helping the school, as several of her employees have children that attend the affected elementary school.
“We feel so sorry for the children, parents, and faculty of Walnut Hill Elementary School that we knew we needed to do something to help. Offering a discount and collecting donations to be delivered to the school is our way of giving back during such a difficult time.” Cook said.
Dallas OEM Visited by Nowitzki, Kershaw
Special thanks to @swish41 and @ClaytonKersh22 for visiting our Emergency Operating Center! City staff continues to support recovery efforts from the tornado that passed through our area on Oct. 20. pic.twitter.com/LX3RaA2KaR
— City of Dallas (@CityOfDallas) October 29, 2019
