Houston Chronicle:
Hurricane Katrina's destruction in the upper Gulf Coast made a believer out of Galvestonian Charletta Babrie."We got a wake-up call — a big wake-up call," said Babrie, one of about 300 people who attended a meeting Wednesday to hear how officials plan to evacuate this island city if a Category 4 hurricane like Katrina threatens.
"I've been crying ever since that storm," said Babrie, a retired nurse who has watched the aftermath of Katrina on the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts. "I just want to be better prepared."
Babrie said she has transportation if an evacuation is ordered. But Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas and Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough told the crowd that thousands of their neighbors will need help and the local governments plan to give it to them.
But they said there's work to be done before they can assure that everyone who wants a ride out of town will get one.
The officials vowed that the city and county will use various means — from going door-to-door to find those in need to signing up people through their churches — to identify people who have no transportation or who have medical needs and can't evacuate on their own.
Residents also can sign up for transportation by dialing 211 and detailing their special needs, Thomas said.
"Being quite frank, Galveston County has never prepared for the worst case," Yarbrough said. "We're prepared ... for the normal, average storm, kicked up a notch."
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