GALVESTON — City, county and state officials all reiterated the same message during Wednesday’s hurricane town hall meeting: If Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas calls for an evacuation, don’t stay.
About 40 percent of island residents ignored evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Ike and suffered through almost two weeks without power or water and sewer service.
Those who did leave were stuck off the island for 12 days after the storm made landfall Sept. 13, wondering what they would find when they returned to their flood-damaged houses.
Before Wednesday’s meeting, Thomas promised a new re-entry plan that would help get residents back more quickly and efficiently.
But the plan announced by Police Chief Charles Wiley wasn’t much different from what officials pieced together after Ike.
First responders and emergency service providers will be the first allowed back across the causeway. Business owners and contractors will be next, followed by residents.
The extent of the damage will determine how quickly each group can come home, Wiley said. If the damage isn’t too bad, residents might be kept away for just a few days, he said.
But if the city experiences another Ike-like storm, more than a few days could separate each group’s return, he said.
After Ike, business owners were told they could come to the island to check on their property and reopen if they could, but many were turned away at checkpoints manned by county or state police agencies.
Next time, Galveston police officers will be in charge, Wiley said.
Business owners will need proof of ownership to get past the checkpoint, which will be set up at exit 5 on Interstate 45. Residents will need photo identification with a Galveston address or a utility bill.
Residents from Tiki Island and Jamaica Beach also will be allowed past the checkpoints, as long as officials from those cities authorize re-entry.
After Ike, the smaller cities allowed residents back before the city of Galveston did, but most people could not convince officers at the checkpoints to let them through.
Thomas opened the meeting with a 20-minute video produced by the Insurance Council of Texas. It’s message: Don’t stay.
“I hope this will impress all of us enough to understand how dangerous hurricanes can be and why we must be prepared, why we must have plans and why you all must pay attention tonight,” Thomas said.
Gene Hafele, head of the National Weather Service’s League City office, jokingly told the audience he predicted the 2009 season would spawn only one hurricane, which earned him enthusiastic applause. But audience members booed when he told them that one storm would be a direct hit on the island.
“We don’t know where the next storm will hit, but it might be Galveston,” he said. “So you have to be prepared.”
But the strongest warning against staying came from Joan Richardson, institutional emergency preparedness officer for the University of Texas Medical Branch.
“If we have a bad storm and the mayor tells you to leave, leave,” she said. “(The medical branch) does not have the resources or reserves to play any significant role in providing medial care after a disaster.”
Hurricane Ike left the medical branch with severe damage, closing its emergency room and other hospital operations.
About 400 people attended Wednesday’s meeting, an annual event for Galveston.
But only 15 signed up for evacuation assistance. Before the meeting, 40 people had registered to ride city buses off the island.
Two days before Ike struck, about 1,500 people boarded buses at the Island Community Center bound for Austin shelters.
Because so many people have not yet returned to the island, the city is not using information from last year’s list, Assistant City Manager Carolyn Cox said. Everyone who needs assistance this year needs to re-register, she said.
To sign up for hurricane evacuation assistance, call 409-797-3710.
