City of The Colony E-Newsletter • Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021

Community responds to severe winter weather event

Residents of The Colony and throughout the state of Texas have been coping with extreme winter temperatures and power outages the past few days. During Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Mayor Joe McCourry addressed the community, assuring residents the Council is doing all it can to advocate for its residents with those responsible for managing the power grid.

“I just want everyone to know that we are with you, we understand, and we feel the same frustrations you do,” he said. “They didn’t plan. [But] we’ve got plans in place. We have great community partners. Our churches are stepping up, saying we’ll be a warming site in your city and we’ll take people in. That’s where we live, here in The Colony, and I think we are the example for the rest of Texas on the way things ought to be.”

Click here to access the video for the Mayor's full remarks regarding this week's winter weather event.

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Trash collection info, warming stations, facility closures:

Trash collection: As of this publication, Republic is scheduled to resume trash collection only beginning Friday, Feb. 19, and concluding Saturday, Feb. 20. They will begin with Tuesday's route on Friday, and continue all routes through Saturday. We ask that residents place their trash carts in the normal pick-up location no later than 7 a.m. Friday morning and leave the cart out until Sunday morning so that it can be serviced. More details.
Warming stations: Horizons Church in The Colony has opened its doors as a warming station for those without power. The church is at 6600 Paige Road on the first floor of the Paige Office Plaza building, corner of Paige and Kisor. Call 214-705-3090 for information.
The Colony Public Library, Recreation Center, and Aquatic Park will remain closed Wednesday, Feb.17 and Thursday, Feb.18.
City Hall is scheduled for a delayed opening of 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 18.
The Household Hazardous Waste Facility is closed Feb. 17.

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Contact information to report power outages to your utility provider:

For Oncor, report online or call 888-313-4747;
For CoServ, report online, call 844-330-0762 or text OUT to 768482.

For those who do have power, ERCOT encourages you to take the following energy-conservation steps:

Set your thermostat to 68 or lower when you’re home and awake, and turn your thermostat back 5 to 7 degrees when asleep or the home is empty for more than 4 hours. (Don’t do this if you have a heat pump. Instead, set your thermostat as low as comfortable and maintain the setting.)
Open curtains and blinds on south-facing windows during the day to allow sunlight to heat your home, and close them at sunset to reduce the chill.
Keep your fireplace flue closed unless a fire is burning.
Turn down your water heater temperature setting to warm (120 degrees F).
If you have a pool, run your pool pump during the coldest part of the day, typically in the early morning.

The U.S. National Weather Service-Fort Worth is forecasting that the worst of the weather is behind us, but the worst of the road conditions is still to come as we enter a daily cycle of partial melting and refreezing. This means more black ice and bumpy ruts through Saturday. Drive safe or not at all if you can wait. Keep up with local weather notices at www.weather.gov/fwd/. For statewide road conditions, visit www.drivetexas.org.

The National Weather Service warns that many ponds, creeks, and streams' surfaces are starting to freeze over. PLEASE do not attempt to go on any frozen bodies of water unless you know how thick the ice is! You need at least 3-4" of ice to support a human and that is not likely for most bodies of water here.