Copyright 2006 San Antonio Express-News
All Rights Reserved
By JEORGE ZARAZUA
Express-News
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It was another sign of how serious Texas is taking the coming hurricane season.
Instead of having members of the state’s elite search and rescue team respond to mock terrorist attacks or the usual earthquake disaster practice, as it had done for many years, the state drilled team members on a hurricane catastrophe that featured many of the same obstacles encountered during hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
It was the first time in the nine-year history of Texas Task Force 1 that a full-size hurricane exercise was being carried out here at Disaster City, a 52-acre training facility southwest of the Texas A&M University campus.
“Texas is very concerned and takes (hurricane preparedness) very seriously,” said Bob McKee, director of the task force.
Last year, the task force was deployed to five major storms, including Katrina and Rita.
This year may be another busy hurricane season for task force members because forecasters predict another summer full of named storms.
Even more alarming, researchers at Colorado State University say there is a 47 percent chance that another major storm such as Rita could strike between Brownsville and the Florida panhandle after the hurricane season begins June 1.
In all, 17 named storms are forecast to spawn off the African coastline toward the United States this summer, with nine becoming hurricanes and five turning into major storms.
By comparison, an average year produces 9.6 tropical storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 major storms, according to university researchers.
“We can’t control the weather, but we can prepare for it,” said Jason Cook, spokesman for the sponsoring Texas Engineering Extension Service.
About 90 emergency workers from across the state, including San Antonio, converged Saturday at the sprawling training complex to test their search and rescue skills, both on land and on water. Participating in the drill were 78 volunteers, an amount that coordinators said was necessary to simulate the large number of people who task force members often encountered in New Orleans after Katrina.
There were stranded victims, collapsed buildings, hazardous materials and even personal challenges members had to confront, such as eating Meals-Ready-to-Eat, living in a tent under a hot Texas sun and bathing in portable showers.
“Although we regularly train in San Antonio, this facility in particular is very hard to duplicate and is the best substitute for a real-world event,” said Nim Kidd, a San Antonio firefighter and the Alamo City’s emergency management coordinator.
Kidd is serving as the assistant task force leader for this weekend’s drill, which concludes today with performance evaluations.
But even before the exercises began, McKee said, the task force already had learned how to better prepare itself from last year’s hurricanes.
They knew they would have to stock up on more supplies, such as water, gasoline and mosquito repellant.
McKee said that before, the task force carried enough supplies to sustain the team for 72 hours.
“Now, seven to 10 days is an absolute minimum,” he said.