|
|
|
|
Emergency managers must monitor an approaching storm and make decisions for the benefit of county residents’ safety based on the storms movement and its proximity to the coast. Of course, there will always be detractors of decisions made by emergency management coordinators.
Our Victoria County officials wisely ordered a voluntary evacuation instead of a mandatory evacuation, preventing traffic gridlock. And the absence of the mandatory order indicates our emergency management officials were on top of the storm’s every movement.
DeWitt County’s emergency management team received criticism for ordering a mandatory evacuation, but its team was not taking any chances with a storm just off the coast. The team wanted its county residents to be safe.
Jolly Badget, DeWitt County’s emergency management coordinator, told Advocate reporter David Tewes (Tuesday’s Advocate), “It appeared that the storm was pretty well going to come in head on and move toward Hallettsville.”
The following day, when it was apparent that the storm was not, Badget and his team rescinded the order.
Other counties ordered mandatory evacuations as well, particularly for coastal cities.
We are blessed in that we have had no reports of deaths in our area of the Texas coast and region. For that, we can safely give partial credit to our emergency management teams, and we can give credit to our practical and wise residents who know that when voluntary or mandatory evacuations are issued, it is sage advice.