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Houston rodeo impacted by severe storms
Hold on to your cowboy hats as storms rain down on the final weekend of the rodeo! FOX 26's Jade Flury is at the fairgrounds with response from attendees.
HOUSTON - The RodeoHouston carnival had to breifly close due to severe weather on Friday but soon opened back up. Strong winds, lightning, rain, and hail were part of an extreme storm that sent rodeo goers seeking shelter in the NRG Center.
"We just deal with what comes to us from the weather patterns, and we adjust accordingly," said Michael Demarco, the chief show operations officer for RodeoHouton.
Demarco said the rodeo staff is ready for anything, including inclement weather. Contingency plans are put in place to evacuate visitors and move them indoors depending on the weather.
"We will open the stadium in case of an emergency. If we have excessive winds or damaging winds, or lighting," said Demarco.
Rodeo visitors had to rush inside NRG stadium when a downpour of rain and wind came rolling through.
"For instance, the SkyRide, the gondola, if we have winds over 35 MPH they usually shut that down because it wouldn’t be safe for the public. The big Ferris wheel, the way the grand wheel runs, if it gets wet the wheels can’t turn and it wouldn’t be safe so they would shut that down until they have the right conditions," said Demarco.
Even with a little rain dampening the rodeo, the event always finds a way to shine.
"I’m glad that it's kind of a little rainy because it’s keeping people away and the carnival is not as crowded. We’re going to enjoy it while we can," said one rodeo goer.
Rodeo officials said they will be monitoring the weather in real-time throughout the last weekend of the rodeo to determine how to keep people safe based on the weather conditions.