By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country July 4 prompted a meeting of city and county elected leaders and administrators Tuesday to begin planning for similar natural disasters and other emergencies here.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. asked for the meeting, which was held in the city’s emergency management center (EOC) at the Del Rio International Airport.
Among those attending the meeting were County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez, Mayor Al Arreola, City Manager Shawna Burkhart, Val Verde Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Joe Ortiz, County Emergency Management Coordinator Rowland Garza, City Emergency Management Coordinator Amanda Aldaco, Assistant City Manager Manuel Chavez, City Public Works Director Greg Velazquez, City Communications and Marketing Director Peter Ojeda and Assistant Public Works Director Roger Sanchez.
Before the meeting began, Burkhart distributed information about the city’s siren warning system. (See separate story.)
Owens told the group that the sheriff’s office had sent one deputy assigned to a federal law enforcement agency to Kerr County. He said he has reached out through the Middle Rio Grande council of governments to the council of governments in the area affected by the July 4 flood “to see if they needed anything.”
Owens said Garza has reached out to the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and to the emergency management coordinators in that area to offer assistance.
Owens said he has received assurances from Kerr County that officials there will call if more help is needed.
After Burkhart gave the group an update on the city’s ongoing work to re-establish a city siren alert system, Arreola said, “This meeting was brought forward by Judge Owens over concerns that we all get together and be on the same page. We don’t want to go through the same crisis that Kerrville and everybody else is going through. We want to have a plan of action involving everybody at this table.”
Owens said local officials had met in the EOC over the past several years to deal with crises affecting the area.
“The long and the short of it is that the city and the county have worked extremely well together during times of crisis,” Owens said.
Owens spoke to the group about a devastating flood of the San Felipe Creek and the Cienegas Creek drainage in August 1998. He said during that disaster the city took the lead, since most of the damage and all of the deaths occurred inside the city limits.
“My biggest concern is, if something like that were to happen again, law enforcement is all going to be on the same page. . . but where are we going to stage? Where will you want me? If something were to happen in San Felipe, where should we stage? Where are we going to meet?” Owens said.
Velazquez said he had been discussing the issue with Aldaco, noting Del Rio could be divided into three areas: north, central and south.
He said he believed the foremost concerns during a natural disaster would be staging and shelters, depending on where the emergency occurred.
“We have to convene in one place, and we can strategically manage everything from that command center,” he said.
Aldaco note although the civic center was the most central location, persons in San Felipe might be cut off and not able to get there.
Velazquez said the EOC is the logical place for those dealing with the aftermath of a disaster to meet and begin managing all the facets for recovery.
“The biggest concern I have, because I think that’s what happens during a major event, especially flooding, is where are you going to stage the people in a shelter? Because you close off communications between the center of Del Rio and south Del Rio,” Velazquez said.
Garza then spoke about the importance of initial notifications to citizens. He also noted in the event of a flood like that which occurred in 1998, the county and city have access to inundation maps that could give them some idea of the number of residents that might be affected.
“We throw out the word ‘shelter,’ and we assume we’ll be needing a big spot, but in reality, we open a shelter and it’s just a handful of people, so we need to determine what our numbers are going to be, because we can get ahead of a lot of this stuff and be prepared to deal with it,” Garza said.
He added the county has memoranda of understanding with the school district for use of their buses and gyms for emergency transport and housing.
Aldaco returned the discussion to the city’s current push to get residents to sign up for the Regroup emergency notification system.
After some additional discussion of areas in which to stage heavy equipment and the city’s siren system, Arreola brought the conversation back to citizen notification.
Velazquez pointed out citizens must sign up for the existing Regroup notification system.
“If you’re not registered, you’re not going to get that phone call. How can we make it work to where everyone who has a cell phone gets that phone call?” he asked.
Garza suggested an automatic “opt-in” for the city’s water and sewer customers.
Arreola asked about how the city and county would handle the cleanup from any natural disaster.
Owens said, “I believe our first job is going to be search and rescue, so . . . if it hits the fan and we have a flood down there, just like in ’98, the first thing the city did with county crews was to go start cleaning the roads. We didn’t worry about where we were pushing it, we just got it off the roads so they could access those areas.”
He said as soon as roads were cleared, rescue crews began going house-to-house, marking houses and vehicles that had been searched.
Burkhart said when she worked in Bay City, Texas, the city and the county had an agreement for contracted debris removal. She said debris from a flood would have to be deposited in a specially-permitted landfill.
After further discussion of debris removal and how floodwaters move through the community, Garza suggested developing an inventory of the heavy equipment the county and city have, as well as any necessary equipment that might available through the private sector.
He also suggested a tabletop exercise for the near future.
The group also spoke about managing volunteers who may show up to help after a disaster.
The group continued its discussions, talking about involving key players from local businesses who could be called on in emergencies to provide equipment like portable floodlights and food.
Owens said he preferred for the city and the county “to have our ducks in a row” before involving the private sector.
The group also spoke about reaching out to the Texas National Guard contingent stationed here and using the school district’s notification system to alert teachers and parents of possible emergencies.
Ortiz said one important component would be to get aerial video footage of all of the low-lying areas in the city.
“The minute you have a flood, it changes. It doesn’t look the same. Houses are gone, trees are gone, . . . so when you have to go search those areas, it’s nice to know, well, there used to be a house here and here,” Ortiz said.
The group discussed using drones for this purpose.
Ortiz also talked about managing volunteers and putting out a message that volunteers not respond until they are called.
The group consensus was to meet again in 30 days for a tabletop exercise.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
