A tree uprooted on Hubbard Drive in Tyler. Cleanup efforts continue across the city and Smith County. (Jennifer Scott/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

An emergency shelter and resource distribution centers officially closed Friday after significant headway was made in storm recovery in Smith County. Power had been restored to tens of thousands and cleanup was well underway countywide.

At 5 p.m. Friday, about 925 Smith County residents were still without electricity. While the impact was still felt, the restoration of power to 70,000 homes and businesses was seen as a feat after devastating storms rolled through the area.

East Texas has been pummeled by weather events the last few weeks, starting on May 23 with severe weather and even a tornado in the Bullard and Coffee City area. This week, storms begin Monday and continued for multiple days until sunshine finally stuck around later in the week.

The storms caused tens of thousands of outages and widespread damage. The severity prompted the county’s emergency management team to open two PODs (Point of Distribution) centers to help affected residents. People could visit the drive-thru sites, ran by the Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas Military Department, in Lindale or Chapel Hill until Friday afternoon. The Chapel Hill center closed due to running out of commodities while the Lindale center stayed open until 3 p.m. that afternoon as planned, distributing tarps, water, ice and MREs.

The Red Cross and Smith County Community Emergency Response Team ran a shelter at the Bullard Intermediate School in coordination with Bullard ISD, but it also closed Friday.

Anyone still in need of shelter or assistance can call 1-800-REDCROSS and choose Option 4 for assistance. Several other entities have been willing to help, including the following:

• Grace Community Church — Contact (903) 593-3800
• Tyler’s Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints — Contact (903) 871-5117
• Church of the Pines — Contact (903) 224-8595
• Green Acres Baptist Church — Contact disaster@gabc.org with name, address and need
• American Red Cross — Contact (800) 733-2767
• Texas Baptist Men — Contact (903) 475-0797

There are also cooling and charging centers available in Tyler, including:

• Tyler Public Library: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Tyler Senior Center: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Glass Recreation Center: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• As of Friday afternoon, Southern Utilities Customers in Smith and Cherokee counties — about 60,000 people — were still impacted by a boil water notice. No news had been reported by Southern Utilities about an update, but the notice issued Tuesday was until further notice. This is only for Southern Utilities customers, not Tyler Water Utilities or any other entity.

For affected residents to ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use for drinking water or human consumption purposes. The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil and then boiled for two minutes. Instead of boiling, individuals may purchase bottled water or get water from some other suitable source for drinking or other consumption purposes.

Nearly all county roads were drivable by Thursday afternoon thanks to volunteers and saw crews from the Texas A&M Forest Service’s Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System helping the City of Tyler and Smith County clear the roads. More than 100 county roads had trees down due to recent weather, putting county road and bridge employees working around the clock for two weeks.

Flooded roads had also receded by Friday morning. The only roads still affected include County Roads 429, 1303 and 2133, which have trees down with powerlines in them so they will remain closed until Oncor can safely remove the power lines. Some county roads had washouts or undermined culverts from the storms and those will remain barricaded and closed until repairs can be made. They include CR 381, 498, 2110, and 3203. Do not drive around barricaded roads.

In the city limits, Tyler’s streets department continued to clear debris from city easements near roadways and repair potholes, sinkholes and washouts. The city on Friday reminded residents that it is against city ordinance to place construction materials, trees, limbs and debris on public streets, as they obstruct rights-of-way, posing a potential hazard to pedestrians and drivers.

Cleanup has begun at city parks, but the city asks residents to avoid parks and trails until all damage has been cleared, as the damage is widespread and major, so cleanup will take quite some time to complete.

Oncor expects power to be fully restored to the remaining 900 homes/businesses by Sunday. To check the status of your outage or report it again, call 1-888-313-4747 or visit https://stormcenter.oncor.com.

People without internet can access WiFi through Optimum’s emergency trailer parked in the downtown Tyler square, where it will remain until it is no longer needed. Free WiFi is also available at Optimum stores.