Management Of Allen (1980)

this is the story of how emergency management specialists from the federal state and local levels of government work together to meet the threat of hurricane Allen and serve the people of Texas I is a complete look at what an approaching hurricane has done to Corpus Christi these two red flags on the Lawrence treaty head were raised early this afternoon when a hurricane warning went into effect they mean a hurricane could strike the area within 24 to 36 hours thousands of local residents have heeded that warning and have left town 4 points inland the Park Rangers were asking the last tourists to leave a few in fact didn't even know about meanwhile long lines existed in local stores that still had plywood for sale some said they at which they had bought that wood before those two red flags were raised in nearby Aransas Pass the downtown area is boarded up many of the businesses have closed others will close very shortly over an Ingleside there's a similar situation interstate 37 a steady stream of traffic going north toward san antonio a lot of people aren't sticking around those that are leaving or calling the Civil Defense Allen is shaping up to be a storm that could make Celia look like a baby that's the fact it is now coming this direction and if you will remember we were fortunate in Celia in that we didn't have major surgery don't think we will be this lucky this time because if it hits anywhere near Corpus Christi you're going to see some massive search time so all of you who are viewing this and there are any place near a flood tide area and he place near water you should evacuate now it's not funny if it sits in a serious business now because it's coming and if you want to see something impressive look at this it's covering practically the entire Gulf of Mexico the leading edge of the cloud shield is now [Music] here decided it's gonna be their spokesman Bob it's Friday August 8 1980 the State Emergency operating Center is activated to respond to an impending disaster hurricane Allen the State Emergency Management Council is composed of various state agencies and the Red Cross as appointed by the governor they operate from the center to utilize their capabilities in the most effective way possible the center serves as a coordinating point in a decision-making process to respond to the needs of the political subdivisions of the state the special assistant to the governor opens the meeting hard hours put in by everybody and ahead of time we want to express our appreciation from governor Clements for your work on this and nerves will be strained patients will be strained we've got to keep working at it we keep working together do our things the way we know how to do them and follow through with the training that we've all been given to get the job done those of you have been here before know that the state coordinator briefs the council far as nerves are concerned and that is just sitting and waiting to see what's going to happen we do know that there is a considerable amount of spontaneous evacuation the city manager of South Padre Island tells me South Padre Island will be totally vacated by dark tonight that's what's going on we have had contact with all the people along the coast we have sent out teletype advising them of the governor's Proclamation and on the availability of the disaster district committees at Houston carpet next the meteorologists from the Texas Department of Water Resources describes the monitoring of the hurricane and its current location the hurricane so with this we are able to plot the eye of the hurricane on half hour intervals this is the eye and it's approximately 250 nautical miles southeast of the movement has been about 80 miles per hour generally in the west-northwest direction so you continue if you if the hurricane continues in that direction at that speed it should make landfall in 14 hours have some comments now you know come on over and you go ahead and get the phone now that the agencies are updated the evening controller is introduced and each representative reports and the kind of support his agency can provide the exchange of information is vital to a coordinated effort they have supplies available water whatever they need Corpus Christi is still in the process of evacuation Air National Guard said that they would have their three c-130s in Corpus Christi at 1800 about an hour from now they would stand by until well the briefing continues the weather update is received requiring the immediate attention of the group is becoming smaller all indications are other thing is now beginning to intensify a winds were estimated at 150 miles per hour but I would I would guess that estimate is low rounds Ville and Brownsville area and endorser the experiencing squall like situation within the hour we need to make a decision here whether or not the council should recommend to a specific local official somewhere that they should expedite their evacuation taking into consideration factors benefits amount of spontaneous evacuations Georgie's pointed out to begin with in the hour and they're going to continue until this thing passes on over the evacuation should begin as soon as possible again between Brownsville uh what all of you agree then that we should probably send in the name of the disaster council recommendation of those local officials Brownsville flashes if the evacuation is not complete they should begin an expedited is this about what you're saying about what you care to suppose that message and then we'll we'll edit that and type it thank the briefing is concluded and each council member returns to his duty area in the emergency operating center to continue his work until the new shift begins the evacuation is underway people head for shelters the Red Cross and other organizations provide aid and comfort to evacuate for their home cities are now boarded up and empty [Music] in the evening the new shift continues the center's vigilance as Allen's wins reach 170 miles per hour landfall of the eye of the hurricane is of grave significance winds around the eye will be its most destructive force location direction and speed of the storm are analyzed as these emergency management specialists prepare for the contingencies this picture was taken at 3 o'clock this morning so it's four hours behind the fact but it does show the eye very well-defined fact radar indicates that the eye has shrunk to less than 10 miles in diameter and this is suggestive of the fact that the storm is intensified during the night since drifted westward and the outlook is for Adrian west-northwestward and make landfall just north of Brownsville probably over the southern half of Padre Island about mid-afternoon during the night the rains began now they are steadily increasing along with the wind so far there is no serious damage but it won't be long before Allen strikes the Texas coast as landfall becomes imminent the governor arrives and is updated on the emergency as the state's chief executive the governor provides the authority necessary to pull together all the elements of this disaster management group it has decreased its westward movement showed signs of strengthening around the central portion of behind it looks like it could get ignored the Brownsville and between there and Matador that's that's a great distance sometime this evening it's possible that they will make a a lurch northward and westward so a likely area rather than Brownsville which is where it's pointed now will be to the north of there along the South Padre Island and Google guna Mondrian's and maybe as for North expansion Bay not much change of it slipping south we are experiencing something that's new to us and that's the traffic volumes are very low in the highway in fact like a normal weekend after the hurricane update each agency representative governor of the rest of our troopers on standby alert to go when this thing finally comes ashore and that's about all we're doing he just kind of playing the waiting game I think a lot of that traffic the early traffic was a result of an awareness that that never heerd for existence until this after mergency services Texas coastal marine council and Insurance Information Institute program got two and a half million maps out along the Texas coast over a six to eight year period one part is fixed but even as the briefing is in progress an unexpected development off Port Aransas causes a new and serious concern to arise the current problem in the Liberian tanker off Port Aransas at its current at its last reported drift direction it would appear to intercept the beach cleaning up open water oil recovery or cleanup on the beach would not be possible with the seas running 20 to 30 feet so we'll just have to hope they get power restored to the engine they were trying to evacuate crew I'm that's that's the message we see that was a 12:26 that's the ways we get on did that come in through the coastguard in fact the most part is is had a regional response compositor it's not going to be a nice situation will be a lot of suffering a lot of people displaced a lot of economic loss if we can all work together I think we can minimize the damages I think that that's all we really can do at this point is try to hold down those damages to the to the minimum if any of you can think of something and I can assist with through the office of the governor and in whatever kind of an executive directive would be or contact with the federal agencies laying our finger or activating some resource that we heretofore don't have just let me know will you're simply doing it our problem probable next step will be request the presidential disaster declaration sure in your name thank you very much good share place that evening the waiting grows more intense the governor and the state's US senator are present to see what help they can provide but mainly everyone must wait all has been planned for except the unexpected and so the group waits not knowing what will happen until the hurricane lands in the night the hurricane lands thankfully the wind damage is liked because of the early evacuations in the center's crisis management the loss of life is low even the oil tanker the Maryellen run safely aground but the danger everywhere has not passed the rains continue there will be flooding the center continues to operate the heavier rains will not be occurring [Music] although there will be flooding not all areas will be affected in some areas the rains are abating it's becoming clear that it is safe to release people into some of the evacuated areas we're kind of the opinion that we could release people people on the land east of us 77 go back and though the situation continues to call for constant monitoring in such matters as water availability we need to check with em see if they have any additional need for water the sense of emergency is lessening they're working on now there's a car out in the parking lot with its lights on it's a tan Ford or Chrysler I don't know if it's mine I guess it's been reported surely not enough to do the job but apparently there was a from what I've heard a man foot wall of water I met I guess it was the tidal wave and it just went through and took everything get it it completely here on shore line if you can call a fortunate we're fortunate here because we have the sand and what not make them two or three blocks the other way they've got just mud and grime and slime and filth that looks like it came out of the sewer Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA arrives on the coast they are here following the governor's request to the president for a major disaster declaration they will work with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and other state agencies and they explain to people how FEMA will help relieve the burden of this disaster we'd like to get in to sort of provide a new to organize a disaster recovery effort and turn it all over to people back in this area one of the things we do as quick as we can get into a disastrous area is to hire local people and turn everything over to them so we get our people out they know more about what they need to do for themselves then some Fair does but the devil install FEMA is the United States government's agency for disaster assistance and they arrived on the scene fast when state government asked for public and private assistance disaster assistance centers are established they will house all government agencies and volunteer organizations who are here to provide speedy assistance to storm victims as always state and federal agencies associated with disaster emergency management promote constant awareness of disasters they develop long-term programs to mitigate the effects of disasters like Allen Emergency Management is a big job because it includes not only mitigation but also preparedness response and recovery the management of Hurricane Allen was a big job but it was accomplished through the teamwork capabilities and dedication of these emergency management specialists working within the framework of many levels of government the lives of many Texans were saved and hardships were reduced [Music]