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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023 City of Port Arthur Hurricane Preparedness (2)2023 CITY OF PORT ARTHUR HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS Director of Emergency Management Thurman Bill Bartie Emergency Management Coordinator Jermey L. Houston Sr. Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Robert L. Havens Emergency Management Liaison Michael Fratus Hurricane Season 2023 Outlook Key Planning and Preparation Events •Lumberton Hurricane Prep Meeting •Nursing Home, Assisted Living , Dialysis Center, and Hospital Hurricane Coordination Meeting •Mass Casualty Event Training •Parks and Recreation update of Annex C Sheltering •Donation Management Training •Texas Gas Service Key Planning and Prep Events •Public Works meeting •Bechtel •DD7 Meeting •TDEM Emergency Management Conference •VOAD meetings •Red Cross Meetings Pre-Disaster Contracts and Mutual Aid Agreements •The City currently has pre-disaster contracts in place for: •Disaster Support and Management Services –SLSCO Ltd. Res. 22-366 •Debris Removal and Disaster Services –Crowder Gulf Res. 22-307 •Debris Monitoring Services –Witt O’Brien Res. 22-308 •Catering Services –Cotton Commercial USA –22-365 •Hotel Accommodations –Super 8 Motel –Res. 22-198, Mainstay Suites, Res. 22-199 •Emergency Bus Evacuation –PAISD –Res. 19-343 •Emergency Diesel –Total Refinery -Res 21-237, Covered SLSCO Res. 22-366 Situational Awareness Situational Awareness Cont’d •Typically, the NWS can provide the City with a forecast prediction of a possible impact, with any real degree of accuracy, no more than 5 days out. These predictions are subject to many factors that may radically change a storm’s ultimate path or strength. •This being the case, the City’s Emergency Management Division will typically stand up our EOC activity approximately 5 days out from projected landfall on the Texas or Louisiana coast. The Emergency Management team will be monitoring the NWS weather briefings as well as the TDEM pre-landfall briefings and alerts. Our interaction with these and other national and state emergency management organizations will help to develop a clearer operational picture that will guide our decision-making process. Situational Awareness Cont’d •With the information provided from NWS and local forecasters an informed decision is made by the Director of Emergency Management, (Mayor Bartie) on evacuation efforts should the need be presented. OEM by the direction of the Director of Emergency Management coordinates those efforts to facilitate a smooth process during turbulent times. Community Outreach Emergency Management distributed Hurricane Preparedness Guides in all water bills. Information on (STAN) explaining to our citizens the importance of registering with the Southeast Texas Alerting Network (STAN), and how this may be conducted. Community Outreach Cont’d •Registering with STAN will allow citizens to receive emergency alert messages during a local emergency or disaster. This message was also forwarded to the City PIO to be placed on our city web-page along with information in reference to generator safety awareness. Evacuation Activities •Evacuation orders are determined by multiple factors. Typically, under the direction of Mayor Bartie we will only evacuate if there is a bona-fide threat of a storm surge that will eclipse our hurricane protection levee system. General population orders for mandatory evacuation will typically be made approximately 48 hours prior to expected landfall or tropical force winds. A warning will be given to all health care facilities/providers prior to issuing a general population Mandatory Evacuation Order so they may prepare and invoke their evacuation plans in a timely manner. Evacuation Activities Cont’d •As during previous evacuations, our full-scale evacuation plan involves the establishment of an Evacuation Hub at the Civic Center to support and manage the evacuation of our citizens with functional and access needs. This facility will be staffed and managed by the FD and other city personnel. Evacuation Hub activities will include the in process and tagging of evacuees, the medical triage of evacuees as necessary, and the coordination of all transportation activities both within and out of the city to prearranged shelter sites. Evacuation Activities Cont’d •If needed, and assets are available, an Air Evacuation Hub may be established at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport. While the Texas Department of State of Health Services and elements of the United States Air Force are designated to be key players in this activity, we will maintain a presence at the airport and liaise, facilitate and provide manpower as necessary to support the evacuation or our citizens with functional and access needs. •Evacuation Activities Shelter Activities •All hospitals and health care facilities have predetermined Point-to Point shelters secured that their patients will be sent to. All of our general population evacuees will be evacuated to a location determined by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) where their or partner agency staff will facilitate the shelter activity. The three (3) primary congregate state shelter locations are in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. Any evacuees with special functional and/or access needs who require medical support will be evacuated to San Antonio where the Texas Department of State Health Services will supervise that shelter operation. Sheltering Activities Cont’d •As previously mentioned all essential city employees will evacuate to the Lumberton ISD site to shelter during landfall if deemed necessary. •Reentry operations will be managed from our shelter location utilized after landfall. Sheltering Activities Cont’d Damage Assessment & Reentry •After landfall reentry actions will be based on several contingencies, including but not limited to, the amount of damage to our infrastructure, the degree of surge inundation sustained, and other weather-related damage we may experience. •Our first task, when able to be conducted safely will be to complete a district-by-district preliminary damage assessment of our city. This action will be essential to planning and preparing for recovery operations. •The city does have contingency plans to provide emergency housing to our employees at local hotels should it be required. Recovery Operations •It is impossible to predict exactly when we will shift from sustained emergency operations with enhanced staffing levels and return to our normal city operational schedules. This decision will be contingent upon the damage sustained by our city and any identified special hazards or enhanced risks found during our damage assessment processes or during ongoing operations. The target goal is to return to normal operations within three to five days after landfall. This does not preclude the continued assignment to certain special duty assignments, or if deemed necessary, the staffing of additional positions or reserve units as needed. Re-Entry Activities •One of the final manpower intensive activities we face will be involved in facilitating, in the event of an evacuation is implemented, is the return home of our citizens who evacuated. This action will necessitate the reestablishment of the Evacuation Hub as a reception center where we will reverse the previous process. Once the evacuees have returned to the city from the various shelter locations the disaster process has come to an end, and we are on the road to recovery. Conclusion •Unfortunately, in recent years our region has gained more hurricane response and evacuation experience than any other community in the state or the country. With every response we have learned and improved our operational capabilities. While the future is impossible to predict, should our community be threatened this year, we have experienced and well- trained personnel, and plans in place to address the needs of our community and adapt to any challenges that may arise.