A year later: Fort Hood stayed prepared despite 2021 winter storm

FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) - Just like the rest of Central Texas, Fort Hood was hit hard by the winter storm last February.

However, Fort Hood Public Works Directors Brian Dosa says the military installation was lucky enough to have power in all buildings thanks to their solar farm.

“Our solar grid has 15 megawatts of electricity that’s generated and it was fully functional last year during the storm with no issue, even with our wind turbines,” he said.

With that power comes the added responsibility to make sure soldiers can get around post to complete their daily tasks, not to mention the families who may need food or water. That’s where the public works department stepped in, working 24/7 to make sure people could get around and units from Fort Hood could distribute water to nearby communities like Killeen and Copperas Cove.

“It was our first time experiencing this type of storm in a while,” said Jose Ancira Jr., supervisor of roads & grounds.

“We had a lot of soldiers and civilians on the road last year which made things more difficult. Because we didn’t have a lot of experience driving on the ice, it was a little unsafe for us, but we managed to survive through it.”

One year later, Fort Hood continues to ask about the lessons learned. From a new facility that houses extra sand trucks, equipment and a special sand mix for the roads, to shutting off a number of water lines to non-essential buildings so they don’t burst, Dosa says you can never be too prepared to help soldiers complete their duties.

“The mission of Fort Hood is not gonna change based on the conditions of the weather or any storm,” he said.

“We have a tremendously important mission to have our soldiers and our units ready to deploy around the world and do the things our nation and our president asks them to do. So, that mission will continue.”

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