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Sunday, May 28, 2000

Last year's lessons guide hurricane plan
Reversing I-37, shelters will help, officials hope
By Aimée Courtice
Caller-Times

Ashley Ream

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As cars inched along Interstate 37, stopping for hours at a time while Hurricane Bret closed in on the South Texas coast last August, Marlyna Trevino sat nervously in her car wondering about her family's fate.
   "We were not near anywhere that we could go (to find shelter)," she said. "I thought that if it would hit, we'd be in the storm."
   After sitting in traffic near Annaville for more than an hour, Trevino said, her family gave up on the idea of evacuating and drove to her sister's home on Weber Road.
   Even though Bret missed Corpus Christi, hitting about 70 miles south in rural Kenedy County, local emergency planners aren't betting the city will escape again. City officials and groups such as the Department of Public Safety, the Regional Transportation Authority and area school districts have used the lessons learned from Hurricane Bret to prepare for this hurricane season, which officially begins Thursday.
   The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted 11 named tropical storms this season, seven of which will become hurricanes. Three of those hurricanes are expected to create winds of more than 110 mph. Tropical Storm Aletta intensified into the first hurricane of the season Thursday off the Pacific coast of Mexico. Before Bret, the last major hurricane to hit the Texas coast was Hurricane Jerry in 1989, which struck Galveston.
   "We kind of got caught off-guard by (Hurricane Bret)," said Lupe Lopez, who stayed in Corpus Christi during Bret. "As far down as it was in Mexico, we didn't expect it to change direction and come toward the city."
   Lopez, like thousands of other city residents, scrambled to make last-minute preparations, hitting grocery and hardware stores for food, water, plywood and other supplies.
   "You couldn't find any water on the shelves," he said. "Everything was cleaned out."
   Deanna Maldonado, a mother of three, said that because of last year's traffic jam on I-37, she would leave earlier. Stocking up on supplies such as food and water as well as getting her children ready took more time than she anticipated, she said.
   "It's nice to have a backpack ready to go for each of (the children)," she said. "This time we would also make arrangements for our pet."
   Officials encourage planning
   It's just that type of planning officials want residents to consider before a hurricane ever threatens the area.
   "We are still stressing that it is very important for people to evacuate," said Juan Ortiz, assistant emergency manager for the city of Corpus Christi. "Families need to coordinate a plan," he said. "Know what (evacuation) routes you are going to take and what to take with you. If you have a long way to go, and especially if you are pulling something with you, allow more time. "
   To avoid duplicating the bumper-to-bumper traffic that delayed an estimated 30,000 people on I-37 before Hurricane Bret, the Department of Public Safety will reverse the southbound lanes when a hurricane reaches a Category 3 level.
   "Even if we do reverse the lanes, in order for everyone to have a chance to evacuate, we must take alternate routes as well," Ortiz said. Ortiz said people shouldn't wait until a hurricane warning has been issued, which generally comes 24 hours before landfall is expected.
   "If you do that, you run the chance of not getting out," he said. "If you have any doubts if you should stay or go, you should go. Play it safe . . . don't take a chance."
   Joe Arellano, meteorologist in charge at the weather service office in Corpus Christi, said that when a hurricane watch is issued, a hurricane is expected within 36 hours. People should make arrangements then to leave areas near where landfall may occur, he said.
   During this time residents should board up windows, make plans for pets and buy emergency supplies.
   This year, Patricia Harrison and her husband plan to be more prepared than they were last August. She said they saved the wood they used to board up their windows if they need to protect their home again. She also remembers bare shelves in local grocery stores when she went to buy bottled water.
   "Shortly, we'll stock up," she said. "Just in case."
   Arellano said residents of Padre Islands should consider leaving even earlier because the JFK Causeway may flood before a hurricane hits.
   "If they wait until a warning is issued, it may be too late," he said.
   City officials said they learned last year some people couldn't evacuate because they did not have a car. This year, the city plans to give those people a lift out of town.
   School buses to be used
   Once a hurricane warning has been issued, school buses from Corpus Christi, Flour Bluff and West Oso school districts will take people without transportation to shelters in San Antonio, Ortiz said. Agreements with these districts should be finalized during the next several weeks, he said.
   The Regional Transportation Authority also will keep its regular bus routes running as long as possible to help people get to the school buses that will take them to San Antonio, Ortiz said.
   After the hurricane, buses will return residents to the city, he said.
   Shelley Parks, director of community relations for the Corpus Christi office of the American Red Cross, said that once people are near San Antonio, signs and radio broadcasts will direct them to shelters.
   "We will make sure each one is full before we open another one," she said.
   Evacuating is best
   The shelters, which will provide water, food, beds, first aid and places to shower, will be in various school buildings around the city.
   This year, the city of Corpus Christi also will open shelters, but locations will not be announced until there is a hurricane warning. And City Manager David Garcia said the city encourages residents not to rely on the shelters but to evacuate.
   "The safest and most effective response to a hurricane is to evacuate," he said. But last year, Garcia said, there were many people who did not have the means to evacuate. Because the American Red Cross doesn't provide shelters during hurricanes in pre-designated evacuation zones such as Corpus Christi and the city did not open any shelters, some people were on their own.
   "Some people didn't have cars, or their cars wouldn't make it," he said. "Some people just ran out of gas."
   Public criticism after Hurricane Bret prompted the city to provide shelters, Garcia said.
   "If the Red Cross can't come in until after the hurricane, we needed to look into how to fill that gap," he said. Ortiz said the city is working with local school districts to choose which school buildings would be appropriate hurricane shelters. But Ortiz warns that people should bring their own water and food supplies, as well as toiletries, blankets and any prescription medications. No transportation will be provided to the shelters, which will be run by the city until Red Cross volunteers arrive.
   "It's not going to be like a hotel, it will be something very minimal," Ortiz said.


Staff writer Aimée Courtice can be reached at 886-3622 or by e-mail at courticea@caller.com

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