There was a time when Bruce Clawson was considered the worrywart of local emergency management coordinators.
Ever since becoming the head of emergency management for Texas City, Clawson has been a stickler for planning.
That tendency hasn’t changed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Much of the problem in New Orleans, he said, was a lack of transportation for the poor and disabled.
Even before Katrina, Texas City had mapped out a plan to evacuate those who could not get out of town on their own.
Like Galveston, the city planned to have buses take people out of the path of an approaching storm. Clawson said several staging areas would be set up “four days before anything would hit here.”
The school buses, staffed by Texas City school district volunteers, would take people to shelters north of Houston.
That plan has been tweaked as a result of Katrina.
“The thing is, we really don’t know who the people are,” Clawson said. “We are in the process of trying to identify who may be in need of help.”
Clawson said letters would be mailed asking people who need help to contact his office. The number to call is (409) 643-5707.
Clawson said his office was coordinating an effort to cope with extreme cases, such as when someone is unable to get to the staging area for the buses. In such cases, he said, the city will pay for a cab to pick the person up.
“That’s something that came about after Katrina,” Clawson said. “An elderly woman who is blind and unable to get around herself called asking for assistance. It’s something that before this was not planned for. Now it is.”
Terry Byrd, the emergency management director in Friendswood, said he had had a few calls in the aftermath of Katrina.
“We’ve heard from some people with special needs,” he said. “They have come forth and identified themselves to us.”
Byrd said he got those people in touch with local faith-based organizations for help in evacuating.
Denny Holt, emergency management director for League City, said he knew of no one in need of help with transportation.
His city, like Friendswood, regularly checks the evacuation plans of local retirement and nursing homes to make sure residents there will be safe.
Barry Cook, Santa Fe’s emergency management coordinator, said his city had sent applications to residents asking them to register if they need help evacuating. Before it can provide that help, he said, the city needs to know who needs help and what kind.
So far, he said, only three people have turned in applications.
To help evacuate special needs residents, Cook and Hitchcock’s emergency management coordinator, Glenn Manis, are planning to discuss with their respective school districts the possibility of using school buses.
Dickinson’s city administrator, Ivan Langford, said he had given more than a dozen speeches about evacuation since hurricane season began.
One of the first things he talks about is the importance of having a personal plan.
The destruction that Hurricane Katrina caused has opened many people’s eyes to the dangers of staying in their homes during a storm, he said. People who once said they would stay are now talking about leaving.
Langford said there was an increase in efforts to provide transportation to people who cannot evacuate on their own. However, he said, before relying on city transportation, people should talk to family, friends and neighbors to find a reliable way out of town.
It’s not that the city won’t help, Langford said, but people need to help themselves first.
Texas City’s Clawson agreed.
“People themselves have got to understand that government can only do so much,” he said.
Katrina’s impact on hurricane preparedness has increased Clawson’s time on television.
The city has been repeating on the cable access channel the video of a speech on hurricane preparedness that Clawson gave at the start of the storm season.
“It is worth repeating that the best time to plan is when there is not a storm out there to be ready about,” Clawson said. “They have got to have their own plan in place and be prepared to take action.”
