TD Partners Brave Extreme Winter Storm Conditions to Get the Job Done

In early February, a massive winter storm and an extensive stretch of arctic temperatures drove the entire state of Texas into a crisis that was within minutes of wiping out Texas' entire power grid. At one point, more than 4.5 million homes and businesses were without power.

For building facility crews, it was a worst-case scenario as systems shut down amid power outages. Pipes burst, homes and businesses flooded, and traffic all but vanished from the streets as ice, snow and bitterly cold wind swept the state. Nearly all commerce shut down for days, and 57 people died during the crisis.

Yet TDIndustries' Partners were hard at work, jumping in their trucks, triaging and tackling the challenges inside and out to get Customers' systems back up and running, protecting them from future threats. In honor of April’s Partner Appreciation month, the reports below provide just a glimpse of TD Partners’ heroic efforts to protect and serve our dedicated Customers throughout Texas.

Austin

A key Austin manufacturing customer had numerous critical systems crash amid the crisis, including its HVAC systems, causing a shutdown of the company’s manufacturing areas. While inspecting an HVAC unit, the TD team also found a water line break, and notified facilities immediately to tackle the repair and cleanup after water poured into several work areas.

"The excellent service provided by your team during this stressful time proves that we have a valued partnership with TD," the company’s facilities supervisor said, expressing his deepest appreciation and gratitude for the skilled and efficient response amid the extreme conditions.

Due to the quick response of your team, led by TD Partner David Davidson, we were able to get everything back up and running in a timely manner."

Partner Shawn Ramsey rushed to the rescue of desperate homeowners in Round Rock, helping more than 75 families with home plumbing issues at no charge to them. Construction partners worked with plumbers to get water back to high-priority business Customers including the Ronald McDonald House, West Oaks Rehab, the Hub, Capital Metro and the city of Round Rock.

Houston

Freezing temperatures threatened water breaks throughout a Houston hospital working at near capacity amid the global pandemic. TD Partners Steven Nanez and Bruce Nelson orchestrated the quick replacement of expansion joints on hot water systems for all air handlers in the building to prevent catastrophic damage.

"Your team worked alongside ours as a valued partner with extremely capable team members,” a hospital facilities senior director said. “We look forward to our continued partnership as we complete our storm recovery."

Another TD team was scrambling to solve plumbing issues at a Customer country club site. Partners acted quickly to repair several burst pipes that affected the fire suppression and chilled water systems, as well as broken water lines on the irrigation system, in the pump room and in the pool house.

Building Technician Juan Garcia made cosmetic repairs behind the repair crew to erase all signs of damage. His work was so skilled that it was difficult to tell which areas had been repaired.

The country club’s general manager had high praise for the TD crew.

"I want to express how grateful I am for engaging with TD's team and their quick response to jump on things” he said. "In the craziest of times, the TD team’s calm and professionalism helped us provide for our Members in a way that, to me, is exemplary. I felt very honored in our relationship this week and am grateful for your service."

North Texas

When a COVID-19 vaccine distribution center in Grapevine started to experience issues with its storage facility, dedicated TD Partner Paul Wilson braved the elements to respond. His creative, out-of-the-box solutions saved the entire storage unit of vaccines by keeping them at the required temperature of -70°C.

Accumulating snow and ice and howling winds made getting to any job site challenging, yet Partner Guillermo Briseno responded quickly and decisively to a call from a TD construction Partner for a Dallas apartment community where a resident reported smelling gas.

After the gas company shut off gas to the building, a total system test was required where the team identified and repaired a faulty controller. They then were able to restore gas – and life-saving heat and hot water – to the tower.

Amid such a challenging winter event, heat and water were so critical to Dallas residents’ health and safety. In yet another Dallas apartment community, a TD team responded after the water was completely shut off to a community because of multiple freeze breaks to the domestic water system. Partners worked alongside an independent contractor to install a temporary solution tying in to the irrigation system to restore water to residents after 14 hours of repairs.

Other heroic Partner responses included getting a boiler back online for a hospital when engineers couldn’t make it due to dangerous road conditions and welding repairs on multiple water breaks for school districts and colleges.

The Dallas Construction Partners and Process Solutions teams performed countless critical repairs for our Customers, heading out into the winter storm to the next emergency as soon as one was resolved.

Arizona

Despite all signs that Texas was a "no-go" zone amid the bitter temperatures and waves of snow and ice, Arizona plumbing service technicians Joe Robles and Nicholas Schellenberg didn’t hesitate to travel to North Texas to assist with emergency plumbing needs throughout the area for two full weeks. Here’s what Aaron Butler, Director of Service Operations had to say about the Partners who stepped up in a big way.

"Although slated with their own busy workload in Arizona, Nick and Joe both responded and were eager to help with the influx of plumbing work orders for North Texas. Both Partners sacrificed time away from their families, and we owe them and their families a big THANK YOU! We are grateful to have Partners like Nick and Joe."

TDIndustries extends a huge thank you to all Partners for their extraordinary dedication and hard work during the extreme and unprecedented winter storm disaster in Texas. Join us and our Customers in sharing our appreciation for our high-performing TD team.