CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In response to the destruction of Hurricane Ian, the Nueces County Office of Emergency Management will review the actions taken by Florida officials.
“That’s our next step, is to understand what they went through,” said Louie Rey, the Emergency Management Coordinator. “What were the orders given. How did people react to those orders and bring that information back to Nueces.”
Ray said the area they cover stretches from the Island all the way up north to Agua Dulce.
To keep it simple, the Emergency Management Department has organized these areas in 5 main zones, according to how they would be impacted by storm surge or high water.
“We have Zone A1, Zone A2, Zone A3, B and C. We evacuate from zones first and then we move to the more inland areas,” said Ray.
Before the county judge decides when it’s time to evacuate.
The team first looks at the information from the National Weather Service.
They also use a forecasting software tool.
“HURREVAC is a site that emergency managers use to gauge whether or not they need to think about evacuation,” Ray said.
By using HURREVAC the team can form a timeline and a plan to let people know when they need to evacuate. While this tool can do a lot, Ray said it doesn’t consider population growth or construction.
A huge concern for island resident, Ted Mandel.
“There’s probably going to be thousands of people moving here in the next 5 years,” said Mandel.
Concerns the Emergency Management Department is aware of.
“The population is growing and construction too. We have to make sure we’re thinking about that when we’re making the decision to evacuate,” said Ray.
Doing this work in case of emergency. The Emergency Management Department asks people to act immediately if an evacuation order is called.
