BEAUMONT – Gov. Rick Perry today thanked the 1,300 attendees at the Texas Hurricane Conference for their work during last year’s devastating hurricane season, and praised local and state progress in preparing for what is predicted to be another busy hurricane season. The annual conference brought together state and local emergency response personnel to discuss progress Texas has made in hurricane preparedness as a result of lessons learned during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and ways to further improve preparedness for future storms.
“That entire period of time from late August until late September was one of the most difficult periods of time this state has ever endured. And yet it was also our finest hour,” Perry said. “And the reason is because of the leadership, the courage, and the compassion of the men and women in this room. Emergency response personnel, local elected officials, and concerned, everyday citizens made me so proud to be governor of the greatest state in the union.”
Perry reminded attendees that some of the first rescue workers on the ground in New Orleans when Katrina struck were the search and rescue personnel of Texas Task Force One.
“As people fled Louisiana, thousands poured across our border and found refuge right here in Southeast Texas. You opened your homes, your businesses and your houses of worship to give them a place to rest and a warm meal. And before coastal Texans could even catch their breath, you learned about a category five hurricane brewing in the gulf, heading anywhere from Corpus Christi to the Louisiana line. And you did it all over again, stretching your capacity to move millions of people out of Rita’s way,” Perry said.
The damage from Hurricane Rita totaled billions of dollars and destroyed or damaged 75,000 homes, yet the storm is often referred to as “the forgotten hurricane” because the federal government has fallen well short of recovery assistance promised to Texas. Perry traveled to Washington in March to press the U.S. Senate Appropriations committee to provide more than $2 billion in funding to help Texas recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and challenge the federal government to make good on promises made to Texas.
“The federal bureaucracy has treated Southeast Texans as lesser citizens. Mother Nature treated Rita victims on both sides of the Texas-Louisiana border with equal wrath, and the federal government should treat Rita victims in both states with equal compassion and equal assistance,” Perry said.
Perry said despite being shortchanged by the federal government last year, the state remains focused on being as prepared as possible for the upcoming hurricane season, which starts June 1. “Rita exposed flaws in our own planning that we are working to rectify, with the next hurricane season just one week away,” Perry said.
Last fall, Perry appointed the Task Force on Evacuation, Transportation and Logistics to take testimony from local officials, emergency response personnel, and citizens on lessons learned from Hurricane Rita. In March, Perry issued an executive order implementing the task force recommendations that did not require legislative approval. The executive order focused on five key areas: the evacuation of people with special needs; command, control and communications; traffic management; fuel availability; and public awareness.
Perry’s executive order directed the Texas Department of Transportation to work with the private sector on plans to better manage traffic flow and fuel supplies in evacuation areas and along major evacuation routes.
“Let me say something about evacuation gridlock: there is no magic formula to end all traffic gridlock during an evacuation. The fact is there is no magic formula to end gridlock in Houston on an average workday, let alone when a couple million people or more head for the highways within a few hours of each other,” Perry said. “Our aim is to make the situation better with spaced out fuel stations and aid stations.”
Perry also called for regional uniform command structures in the state’s 24 planning regions to coordinate disaster preparations and response.
“The reason I asked for one person to serve as a regional unified commander was not to create division among different elected officials, but because I do not believe life and death decisions which should be made in a matter of minutes are best made by committees,” Perry said. “Hurricanes cross jurisdictional boundaries. That’s why it is important for the state to have a greater coordinating role, and for local implementation to occur under a regional command structure as the report recommends.”
The state has also focused on improved planning to evacuate Texans with special needs – including the elderly and disabled, as well as those who simply do not have a ride to safety – and their pets.
“Keeping track of and mobilizing to safety our special needs population is an immense task that requires detailed coordination for a population that not only includes those in nursing homes and hospitals, but the indigent without transportation, and those without homes,” Perry said. “In Texas, where your dog is as prized a possession as your pick-up truck, it should come as no surprise that many Texans chose to ride out the storm rather than separate from their pets. This is another important aspect of our special needs plan.”
“No hurricane response plan can anticipate every eventuality because reality always throws curve balls that even the best simulation models will miss from time to time. But I do believe, because of your work and expertise, that we are better prepared today to effectively respond to a hurricane than we were one year ago today,” Perry said. “The fact is, we have to be, and Texans will expect nothing less.”
http://www.kfdm.com/engine.pl?station=k ... local.html
