Plans to Visit a Dozen Storm-Ravaged Counties
HOUSTON – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will continue visiting counties impacted by Hurricane Harvey and the subsequent flooding. Today he will travel to Wharton County where he and Gov. Greg Abbott will visit the emergency operations center and meet with local officials. The lieutenant governor will then travel to Fort Bend County. He hopes to visit a dozen counties by Friday. Last week, he visited Corpus Christi in Nueces County where he joined President Donald Trump and Gov. Abbott. He also visited Victoria in Victoria County, Port Lavaca in Calhoun County and Beaumont in Jefferson County. On each stop he visited the emergency operations centers and thanked the workers, many of whom had not been home for days. Local officials and law enforcement officers talked with him about their concerns and needs.
Last Friday, the lieutenant governor visited the George R. Brown Convention Center, the largest shelter in Harris County, visiting with volunteers, evacuees and local officials before traveling to Beaumont where he visited the Emergency Operations Center. He also visited Beaumont Baptist Hospital where he visited with volunteers, hospital personnel and patients awaiting operations who were waiting to be evacuated.
“The devastation of this storm is massive and we know we have a long road of recovery and rebuilding but everywhere I have traveled I have seen our strong, ‘Texas tough’ spirit not only from our first responders and the thousands of volunteers who are out helping people, but even from those who have lost everything. Texas is showing the world what we mean when we say ‘we are all in this together.’ There are no party lines or other divisions. Texans are united and determined to push forward and rebuild our state.”
The lieutenant governor began working with a volunteer group in his area as soon as he could get out of his house last Monday. He traveled with a group in a 5-ton refurbished military truck manned solely by volunteers rescuing people from neighborhoods that were underwater.
Later this week he plans to visit Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller Counties.