"A lot of citizens were calling," said Bauknight. "And I had no idea - I absolutely had no idea of what to tell them."
Like some Victoria residents, Bauknight was having trouble getting information after electricity and the internet crashed. After the storm, the city largely relied on Facebook to push out updates, but that became a problem for residents who didn't use social media.
For Bauknight, improving communications was just one of the areas he said the city could improve to be better prepared for disasters in the future.
On Tuesday, the City Council discussed what went right and wrong during Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged the city and shut off power for days.
The hurricane was the largest natural disaster to strike the city since Hurricane Carla in 1961, said City Manager Charmelle Garrett. The storm shut off city water service, in addition to damaging all 88 traffic signals across town.
During Tuesday's meeting, council members said organizing volunteer efforts, addressing housing problems and preventing the water system from failing were areas that could be improved in the future. Officials say they also plan to explore ways to protect city buildings before storms, create a fund to help employees who lost homes and boost radio communications.
"We learn from each incident," said Garrett. "And we'll get better every time."
Bauknight, who asked the City Council to discuss lessons learned after Hurricane Harvey, said he wanted to hear from other council members about their personal experiences. For Bauknight, one of the biggest problems was the city's water system failing.
After the hurricane shut off water service, two hospitals were evacuated, while nursing homes were also impacted, Bauknight said. Without water, the ability to fight fires was also hindered - something that could've destroyed parts of the city, he said.
"It's scary to think of what could have happened," said Bauknight.
In response, the city manager said officials are exploring purchasing or renting additional generators, improving the road to water facilities and testing ground wells to ensure they'll work if the surface water plant has problems.
Housing problems were also a topic for the City Council. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about 6,800 households qualified for financial help to stay in hotels because their homes were inaccessible or damaged by Hurricane Harvey.
The mayor, however, said he hadn't seen those estimates.
Council members also discussed problems with coordinating volunteer efforts, which some council members said weren't organized enough. The Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or VOAD, is the organization in charge of relief efforts.
However, organizing volunteer efforts and building temporary housing are not the city's sole responsibility, some council members pointed out.
"It seems that this city's government is responsible for every aspect of this, which is absolutely not true," said Polasek.
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