Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - City, county officials gather to prepare for hurricane season

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Thursday, May 24, 2001
City, county officials gather to prepare for hurricane season

By Samuel Segrist
Caller-Times
   It's get-ready-for-hurricane season at City Hall and in preparation for the real thing that starts June 1, the city faked it on Wednesday.
   Wednesday's drill brought together the people who would prepare and respond to emergencies within the city.
   City administrators, wearing brightly colored vests designating their department, sat grouped throughout the emergency operations center in the City Hall basement.
   Representatives from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Nueces County and the Corpus Christi Army Depot also attended.
   In the drill, Hurricane Greg, a Category 4 storm, crossed the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
   Greg then revved up to a Category 3 hurricane before hitting Mustang Island with storm winds extending 75 miles from its center.
   On Monday, the city coordinated a drill with state and county officials on the decision-making process leading up to an evacuation.
   Today, a hurricane seminar is taking place at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Student Center.
   Wednesday's drill covered a five-day time frame, but the exercise took only 2.5 hours.
   "We're exercising the skills we're going to need in this situation," said Juan Ortiz assistant emergency coordinator.
   The emergency coordinators were grouped according to their jobs and further separated by colored vests: orange for public information, green for planning, khaki for logistics, etc.
   Each group had its own problem scenarios.
   "We had people calling in saying things like, 'I have a broken arm and a broken leg, what do I do,' " said Ted Nelson, city spokesman and member of the public information group.
   "We checked and saw that emergency vehicles were still running, so we told them to call 911."
   Not everyone in the workroom was from the city.
   J.M. Copeland, vice president of D&J Enterprises, attended to speak for his company, a private group that has a contract with the city to clear debris after a hurricane sweeps through.
   "It's a very professional drill, and it's useful for us to know what'll be expected," Copeland said.
   Ortiz said the drill went smoothly.
   The primary factor in getting through a hurricane, he said, was to ensure more people stay aware of the dangers the storms can bring and prepare in advance.
   "This is the time that people need to sit down and plan on what they'll do," Ortiz said. "The city wants people to focus on evacuation. That's the best individual response to protect their families."


Contact Samuel Segrist at 886-3764 or segrists@caller.com

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND