Government

Gov. Perry - Hurricane preparedness fact sheet

This fact sheet highlights the significant progress Texas has made in five key area areas, including the innovative ways the state has partnered with the private sector: (1) evacuation of people with special needs; (2) command, control and communications; (3) traffic management; (4) fuel availability; and (5) public awareness.

AUSTIN– EVACUATING TEXANS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Transportation Assistance Registry through 2-1-1

The Governor’s Office, the Department of State Health Services, UT Center for Space Research and Texas 2-1-1 Information Referral Network have worked together to develop a program to better assist Texans who will require transportation or special assistance during an evacuation. The intent of this effort is to encourage individual citizens to identify themselves and simply acknowledge that they need assistance in evacuation.

The state has created a transportation assistance registry to collect information about Texans who will need special assistance during an evacuation. Citizens with special needs can call 2-1-1, and the information they share will provided to local emergency officials who will follow-up and ensure their safe evacuation is coordinated.

The registry was unveiled on May 1, 2006. Utility billing statements in hurricane evacuation zones will carry a simple public awareness message – in both English and Spanish – asking recipients to call 2-1-1 if they believe they need assistance with evacuation. Messages will be provided in utility bills through the end of hurricane season, which ends November 30.

The Health and Human Services Commission, 2-1-1 Information Referral Network has trained operators to begin collecting and entering transportation needs into the Transportation Assistance Registry on May 1, 2006. Information collected will include location information, medical needs, whether family pet transportation will be needed, and other emergency contact information. Database information will be fully secure and only accessible to emergency officials.

Special Needs Evacuations

The Office of the Governor and the Department of State Health Services, working with other state agencies, local jurisdictions and health care associations, have developed a simple designation system to identify people with special medical and match them with the appropriate mode of transportation and correct shelter location. The system will assist emergency responders in determining types of medical care evacuees will require and what type of shelter will best serve their needs.

Several measures are being implemented to ensure special needs evacuees are accounted for both during evacuation and when they arrive at special needs facilities. A global positioning system (GPS) device will be placed on critical special needs vehicles and will be tracked via satellite to ensure constant monitoring of the status of our most vulnerable populations.

The coordination of special needs buses will be given operation priority and will be overseen by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The state has contracted for approximately 1,100 buses to ensure they are available to quickly execute local and regional evacuation plans. Water, food and ice will be placed on state contracted buses, and the buses will depart and move as part of a state-led, coordinated effort.

Passenger trains will be pre-positioned and available for communities that request rail transportation to help quickly move large numbers of evacuees from urban centers. The Federal Railroad Commission has partnered with the state in this effort.

Special Needs Sheltering

Based on lessons learned from Katrina and Rita, the state will implement an expansive “Host City” program. The concept is simple: special needs buses will go to designated host communities throughout Texas that have agreed to accommodate special needs evacuees and have the available medical personnel to meet their needs. For example, the city of Austin will host Galveston, and the City of San Antonio will host Corpus Christi.

The State will support Host Community Special Shelters through extensive use of the private sector support and an extensive use of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), Texas Medical Rangers and medical volunteers. The program is another illustration of communities not directly threatened by hurricanes stepping forward assist their neighbors in need.

COMMAND, CONTROL, AND COMMUNICATIONS

State-led Traffic Management for Multi-jurisdictional Evacuations

As directed in the governor’s executive order, the Department of Public Safety (DPS), working with local law enforcement agencies, has put in place an extensive communications and coordination network, which will support and manage the flow of evacuees from the coast to final shelter locations.

This command and control system extensively uses air assets and real-time video downlink to monitor traffic throughout the area of operation. The Texas Civil Air Patrol will assist in this effort. The centralized monitoring of traffic management cameras will provide a vital tool in this effort for local and state officials.

DPS will ensure that local law enforcement in both the evacuating area and along critical evacuation routes are fully supported and their efforts coordinated to insure the orderly evacuation of citizens.

Regional Response Teams

As directed in the governor’s executive order, eight Regional Response Teams have been created. Each team is composed of 42 highly-trained emergency response personnel including firefighters, law enforcement officers and EMS professionals. The Texas Forest Service will train the teams. The first two teams will be established in the Dallas-Fort Worth and area Central Texas areas. They will be available for deployment to coastal communities to assist evacuation operations or post-impact operations.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Contra-Flow Plans

The contra-flow plans of major evacuation highways are complete and will be thoroughly tested in the statewide hurricane evacuation exercise. The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will refine the plans in the coming weeks and work to ensure maximum evacuation capacity along evacuation routes. The contraflow plans allow officials to contraflow far faster than we have in the past.

Comfort stations will be setup along evacuation routes at existing rest stops to provide basic assistance and water to evacuees should their vehicles become disabled. The Texas Department of Transportation will have roving roadside assistance vehicles deployed from across the state to the evacuation routes to assist evacuees and refuel vehicles if needed.

A key objective of the statewide hurricane exercise is to determine at what point in time contra flow should be implemented to best expedite the flow of traffic.

FUEL AVAILABILITY

TxDOT, in coordination with the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, is working with fuel industry representatives to maintain fuel supplies both in potential evacuation areas and along evacuation routes. These supplies will be at designated retail fuel outlets selected by the fuel industry based on inventory availability, ability to fuel large quantities of vehicles and other criteria. Designated fuel outlets will be situated on open exits and clearly marked so that motorists will be able to access them easily.

DPS, in coordination with TxDOT, will ensure that the highway exits used to access these priority fuel locations are well managed. There will be a Fuel Coordination Team composed of industry representatives in the State Operations Center to coordinate fuel supply at both the evacuation area and evacuation routes well in advance of the approach of a hurricane. TXDOT has 3 additional fuel trucks and will be able to provide emergency fueling of stalled vehicles sufficient to allow the cars to be drive to a fueling station.

PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERS

During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our private sector partners demonstrated an ability to deliver essential aid under extremely adverse conditions. Texas had tremendous success in using the private sector provide and deliver food, water, ice, fuel – which traditionally has been the responsibility of FEMA. The private sector was able to provide other commodities that FEMA does not store, such as diapers, baby formula and pharmaceuticals. Examples:

• Wal-Mart had full-time staff in the State Operations Center (SOC) to assist the state and they provided a significant distribution capability for much needed commodities.

• The Texas Oil and Gas Association established an around-the-clock fuel operation within the SOC to successfully resolve fuel shortages during the Rita evacuation.

• Executives from East Texas electrical companies were asked to set up a “Tiger Team” within the SOC, which substantially reduced the time it took to return power to the affected areas.

As a result of the success we had, Gov. Perry directed that the state expand the use of the private sector for catastrophic events. In the state’s updated response plan, we leverage the tremendous capabilities of the private sector, particularly in areas in which they have a core competency. Private sector partners can deliver assistance faster, cheaper and better, and save the state from having to store mass quantities of supplies.

We are currently working with Wal-Mart, HEB, Home Depot, Brookshire’s, Coca Cola and other industry partners to provide commodities such as water, ice, prescription medicine, food, clothing, generators and emergency materials. Valero has volunteered to supervise the fuel distribution in coordination with other companies, the Texas Oil and Gas Association, and the Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association.

In addition, the health care industry and associations have made an aggressive effort to educate their constituents and assist in coordination with local jurisdictions in the synchronization of the evacuation of private special needs facilities. Faith-based organizations and local churches once again have come forward to make their facilities and volunteers available for assistance across the state. The State has contracted for 1,100 private buses to amplify our evacuation transportation capacity.

To coordinate this effort Texas has established a Private Sector Operations Group which will be housed in the State Operations Center. A major objective of the statewide exercise is to develop the operational procedures to maximize the capability and capacities of private sector partners.