HUMBLE, Texas — The City of Humble is taking quick action following a KHOU 11 story Wednesday night about long lines of big rigs clogging up neighborhood streets near a new Amazon warehouse.
Neighbors told us that the large trucks presented a safety concern because they sometimes blocked drivers and streets. They also wondered how this would affect first responders’ access to the neighborhood.
“A lot of individuals woke up to just mass chaos. There’s nothing but just continuous traffic,” Tekera Stanford-Odom told us.
Humble City Manager Jason Stuebe contacted us Thursday morning to let us know they’ve ordered the facility closed to any future deliveries until further notice.
“The facility will continue to operate internally to clear out the existing backlog that they have on-site,” Stuebe said in a statement. “I have been in contact with representatives from Amazon this morning and conveyed that the facility will not be allowed to resume accepting deliveries until a plan is presented to the City and approved by me …”
The Timberwood neighborhood sits right next to where the trucks arrive. Ring doorbell footage shows at least one Amazon 18-wheeler driving through the neighborhood.
UPDATE: Nearly 1,000 Amazon trucks sent to Humble warehouse in dispatching glitch, police say
If you sat at the corner of Rankin Road and Kingfisher Drive in Humble for five minutes, you’d see the backup and 18-wheelers arriving.
Luz Castillo told us she’s fed up.
“They’re going into the neighborhoods the wrong way. We have encountered them,” Castillo said.
She’s not the only one who has encountered the trucks.
“It’s almost like we can’t get out of the neighborhood,” Rochelle Pierson said.
“It’s overnight. It was overnight that it came,” Steven Berkel said.
Everyone KHOU 11 News spoke with Wednesday said the warehouse has been built for about a year but the trucks started showing up this week.
Humble police in the area were seen speaking with the drivers.
“[The trucks are] just stuck there waiting,” Danisa Prada said.
This matter was especially concerning to the families whose children attend school right up the street.
“The next light is where the school is and all of our kids walk up the street and these big trucks can barely turn on those little roads,” Prada said.
Some people we spoke with said they’ve asked for answers but feel as though they are getting nowhere.
“With the trucks, it disrupts everything,” Castillo said.
In an earlier statement, Stuebe said they were caught off-guard by the issues and immediately began working toward a solution.
Humble City Manager Jason Stuebe’s full statement on Nov. 21:
“As of this morning, we (the City) have ordered the facility closed to any future deliveries until further notice. The facility will continue to operate internally to clear out the existing backlog that they have onsite. I have been in contact with representatives from Amazon this morning and conveyed that the facility will not be allowed to resume accepting deliveries until a plan is presented to the City and approved by me detailing how they intend to meter the current backlog and what their normal operations will look like once this is cleared up. Amazon so far has been cooperative and supports our decision.
“We will have traffic units on scene to ensure that traffic is moving along and directing trucks out of the area until this matter is resolved. The heaviest congestion of course happens in the early morning between 6:30 – 9:00 as the truck drivers that have been traveling overnight are arriving. Our understanding is that to date Amazon has been unable to recall those trucks already en route – so yes, we anticipate another surge of trucks tomorrow morning. Compounding the problem are truck drivers who are arguing with our officers about not being allowed in the facility – which is exacerbating the congestion issue. We have issued several citations already this morning to semi-drivers who are impeding traffic and will continue to do so.
“We continue to work the situation and are keeping open lines of communication with Amazon to get a solution to this problem as quickly as possible so that our residents can resume their normal lives. We share their frustration and will ensure something like this does not happen again. In the interim, we’d ask that residents please be respectful to our officers and city staff as they are simply trying to do their job and fix the problem.”
Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson also released the following statement on Thursday.
“We’ve stopped all incoming shipments to this facility and expect operations to return to normal soon. We apologize for the inconvenience to the city of Humble and are grateful for our partnership with city officials.”