DOLLY one year later

As peak hurricane season is bearing down on the Rio Grande Valley, Harlingen is gearing up for the worst-case scenario, Fire Chief Mike Rinaldi said.

Rinaldi, who is also emergency management coordinator for the city, is going through checklists with his supervisors and remembering lessons learned during last year’s Hurricane Dolly.

City officials are reviewing evacuation plans with county and state officials, he said. Elderly, disabled and people without cars able to transport them to San Antonio will be instructed to report to pickup points around the city where school buses will transport them to San Benito High School for transfer to larger buses to be provided by the state, Rinaldi said.

Elderly and disabled people should pre-register with the 211 system so officials will know they need to be picked up, the chief said. But that system is not a taxi service for people who are able to walk or drive to pickup points, he said.

Residents who are evacuating by car or who are being evacuated may take their pets with them and accommodations will be made to take the pets to sites near shelters, he said.

During the past year, he and other emergency officials have been making presentations at mobile home parks, civic clubs and other gathering places to educate the public on what items they need to pack in emergency kits so they will be ready to evacuate, Rinaldi said.

Presciption medicine, snacks, drinking water, clothing, sanitation items and pet food are important, he said.

Residents should decide whether they are going to evacuate or stay home if the hurricane is Category 1 (winds 74-95 mph); 2 (94-110 mph); or 3 (111-130 mph), Rinaldi said. If the hurricane is predicted to be Category 4 (131-155 mph) or 5 (155-plus), a mandatory evacuation will be ordered by local officials, he said.

Residents should remember that battery powered televisions that worked in past hurricanes will not be able to receive broadcasts from local stations because of the conversion to digital technology. So families should make sure they have a portable AM-FM radio, or NOAA weather radio, with good batteries, the chief said.

Supply checklists are broken down into items to take from each room of the house, such as kitchen, bedroom/nursery/den, bathroom, garage/pantry and laundry.

Evacuation for hospitals, nursing homes and adult day care facilities are handled on a special basis, the chief said. Each facility is required to have an evacuation plan with transportation arranged. The city reviews those plans to make sure adequate vehicles and supplies will be available, he said.

After the storm passes, electrical system repair crews will move in and restore power first to hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies, Rinaldi said. “We need to take care of the fragile people first,” he said.

Then electricity will be restored to grocery stores and other vital supply centers, he said.

“Usually supermarkets have portable generators, but it is important to get them back up and running on full power,” he said.

City public works crews will first clear streets of fallen limbs and brush, Rinaldi said. “First they push back, clear the streets to get the traffic moving, then they go back and begin clearing out the piles around the city later.”

Officials will make announcements about distribution points for drinking water, ice and MREs (military style meals-ready-to-eat), such as at the Harlingen school district office parking lot at the former Kroger building just north of the railroad tracks and Boggus Stadium between 13th Street and 77 Sunshine Strip, the chief said.

Residents should first listen to radio and TV broadcasts for disaster assistance information before trying to call city offices, police or fire stations because those telephones are needed to receive 911 emergency calls, he said.

Rinaldi had stockpiled 500 cases of bottled water and 1,500 MREs for city workers, but last year they had to be distributed to local families being evacuated until the Texas National Guard arrived with supplies for the public, he said.

Janie Lucio, who lives near Tucker Road and Lincoln Avenue, said she and her husband are now seriously shopping for a portable generator.

“Last year, we had just moved in and we didn’t have one,” she said. “I have asthma so we had to look for somebody who had (electricity) and air conditioning so I could sleep,” she said.

“We have the canned food, water, candles and batteries, but we still need to get a generator.”

Last year, she and her family bought plywood to cover windows and had it all cut to size and marked for each window in case they need it this year, she said.

They are also reviewing their insurance policies to make sure their coverage is adequate, she said.

“We had a lot of damage to a rental house we have close by,” she said. “The roof was really torn up (by Hurricane Dolly).”
Cameron County Chief Emergency Management Officer Johnny Cavazos said the county has emergency plans in place in case of another hurricane, however, in cases of catastrophic events there can never be enough preparation.

“No jurisdiction is fully prepared to handle another catastrophic hurricane that we cannot control,” Cavazos said. “Each person has control of what they do for (themselves). The public is the first responders.”

“We (government officials) can always do something better but the bottom line is that people need to heed to government warnings.”

The time to make plans is now in case another hurricane were to strike the Valley, he said.

“People need to know what they’re going to do and where they’re going to go,” he said.

One of the most important lessons from Hurricane Dolly, Cavazos said, was learning which areas are prone to flooding.

“If you are in an area that is prone to flooding, we are not going to be able to control the flooding,” Cavazos said. “The growth of Cameron County has outpaced what the drainage systems can handle. If people know that they live in an area prone to flooding they need to (have a plan).”

One of the new plans the county has put in place is evacuating people to shelters in Hidalgo County.

“Because a lot of people were reluctant to leave (their homes) because they didn’t want to go north of the (Sarita) checkpoint, now we will have shelters in Hidalgo County,” Cavazos said.

The county also has also partnered with shelters throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana to shelter evacuees, he said.