Ready for Rita II?
Brady hosts meeting to see progress
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Newsboy photo/ Sharon Kerr HARVEY 'JIM' MCKENNEY explains to Congressman Kevin Brady the scope of planning that has gone into the hurricane preparedness for Bon Wier in Newton County.

As surely as azaleas bloom in March, so do predictions of a "worse than usual" hurricane season. U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady hosted a roundtable discussion with emergency management coordinators, local officials and concerned citizens at DETCOG in Jasper Monday morning, March 24.

"With the 2008 hurricane season fast approaching and Hurricane Rita still fresh in local memories, I want to

hear from the people on the ground to see how ready they are for another Rita," Brady said.

Andy Patrick, meteorologist in-charge at the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, told the assemblage, "As we look at weather on a decade-todecade basis, we are in the middle of a 10-year span of higher activity. The years 1975-95 were actually below normal, but now we are in a pretty active period. We are estimating seven hurricanes for the season, three major category 3 or higher."

That estimate will be updated in May by NOAA when the season officially starts.

"But let's face it, all it takes is just one," Patrick added, noting that Hurricane Andrew hit Florida late in the season during a lull in 1992, and was, until 2005, one of the most destructive storms of all time.

"My office recently surveyed our constituents regarding their need for transportation services during a time of emergency evacuation," Brady said.

Brady's office called almost 60,000 homes; of 30,000 who responded to the survey, about 1,200 East Texans said they would need help. Copies of that list were turned over to Billy Ted Smith, emergency management coordinator for Jasper, Newton and Sabine counties, Newton County Judge Truman Dougherty, and DETCOG Executive Director Walter Diggles, to be compared with the list of people who have registered with 2-1-1.

"I was surprised how many people did not have transportation and could not go three days without electricity because they have diabetes or other medical conditions," Brady said.

Diggles said DETCOG is working with county commissioners on a plan to get people to evacuation sites, and Dougherty said in Newton they are working with the sheriff's department to do the same.

Smith said emergency management has made progress with school districts in lining up school buses, and in signing up sister cities in north Texas to receive evacuees.

"Canton has facilities set up to receive our people and take care of them," Smith said.

Some of Smith's concerns were communications and coordination with the Golden Triangle's evacuation plans, and especially with the state's plans that put the burden of fuel and rest stops on Jasper and Newton counties. Several officials noted that gas stations normally only keep their tanks at 40 percent full, but even if they are stocked 100 percent in anticipation of an evacuation, the pumps won't work without electricity.

"Are stations better prepared, and do we have the generators to get fuel pumping?" Brady asked.

"That's the private sector," said Joe Wilkinson, assistant emergency management coordiator. "We don't control that."

Although many generators were purchased after Hurricane Rita, the group raised concerns whether these generators have been maintained to the point they would be reliable in the next emergency.

Smith said, "We don't have the money or the authority to go in there and make a private company do anything, unless they go ahead and declare a disaster first... Then we can take them one of our generators, if necessary, and hope we get reimbursed."

That was a common complaint among the group, that during Hurricane Rita they were instructed by people in FEMA shirts to purchase or provide goods and services that were later denied for reimbursement.

The owner of an ambulance service suggested FEMA representatives should be color coded so that people know when they are dealing with FEMAor one of their many independent contractors.

Diggles said, "We need a consistent policy in place (from FEMA)."

Brady made notes and said that since Katrina and Rita FEMA has gone through a number of changes, including decentralizing the decision making process.

Several private sector companies reported that they are better prepared.

John Bryan of Dickerson Hospital said they have generators and they maintain and test them.

Robert Stroder, general manager of the LNVA (Lower Neches Valley Authority), said their emergency planning includes the ability to move their operations from Beaumont to Rayburn. Their facility includes generators, food, water, beds for 20-30 people for up to 30 days.

Brady said the emergency planners can only pre-position so much, and that officials and individuals need to plan that they may be on their own the first 72 hours of an emergency.