Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management Hurricane Rita Evacuation of a Major Urban Area 6922 Katy Road, Houston, TX Phone: (713)

Task: How to evacuate 1.1 Million people from the Storm Surge Area

Timeline: Monday, 19 August 2005: Rita enters the Gulf of Mexico as a Tropical Storm. Rapid strengthening is forecasted. All computer models show an impact on the Texas Coast, with Galveston being centered in the storms projected path.

Tuesday, 20 September 2005: All area elected officials task their Emergency Management Departments to brief them on plans and available options. The Emergency Management Coordinators are then told to conference and make appropriate recommendations.

Hurricane Rita Area Evacuation Command TranStar Declarations of State of Emergency: Galveston and Brazoria County Judges have indicated they will make Declarations of Emergency for their respective jurisdictions this afternoon. Traffic Management Plan for Galveston and Brazoria Counties will commence at 6:00 PM, 21 Sept Evacuations from Galveston and Brazoria Counties: Voluntary evacuations will be recommended by the Judges for their Counties later today. Mandatory Evacuations: 6:00 AM, 21 Sept 2005 for persons in Fixed Health Care Facilities 6:00 PM, 21 Sept 2005 for persons in Evacuation Zone “A” 2:00 AM, 22 Sept 2005 for persons in Evacuation Zone “B" Noon, 22 Sept 2005 for persons in Evacuation Zone “C” Evacuations are to be completed by midnight 22 Sept 2005 TxDot preparations: All signage and low wattage radio signals will be in place by 6:00 PM, 21 Sept Shelter Hubs: Lufkin Huntsville Bryan-College Station Austin San Jacinto River Authority: No plans to lower Lake Conroe: Would fill the San Jacinto River in advance of heavy rains and increase likelihood of localized flooding. Lake Conroe is currently 1 and 1\2 feet lower than bank full. They anticipate they can accommodate 8 to 10 inches of rain fall runoff in the Lake Conroe drainage area.

Available Evacuation Routes Interstate 45 (the central evacuation corridor, and the primary evacuation route) – two (2) lanes from the Gulf of Mexico to just South of Houston. Four (4) lanes through Houston to just North of Houston. Two (2) lanes from North of Houston for approximately 200 miles, then one (1) lane for twenty (20) then two (2) lanes into Dallas, Texas.

Hwy 146 (eastern evacuation corridor) – One (1) lane for approximately seventy (70) miles then two lanes (2) to Texarkana.

Hwy 290 – Four (4) lanes through Houston, narrowing to two (2) just outside of Houston for forty (40) miles then a decision: take one (1) lane due North to Waco, or go on two (2) lanes due west to Austin, the State Capital.

Air: Three (3) major airports. One has no passenger terminal. Numerous helipads.

Rail: One (1) track running north One (1) track running East – West Train station can accommodate one (1) train at a time and approximately fifty (50) passengers.

Wednesday, 21 September :00 AM Press Conference to announce the “Agreed” Evacuation Timetable. We learned there needs to be only one elected official speaking to the public. By 2:00 PM traffic was congested. By Midnight traffic was at a standstill.

Thursday, 22 September :00 AM the Political leaders are briefed. Traffic has not moved in last two (2) hours. 4:00 AM Decision is made to contra-flow all lanes on the evacuation corridors outbound from Houston. 10:00 AM Contra-flow is implemented. 4:00 PM Fuel, Water and Ice is delivered to stranded motorists. 8:00 PM Final sweep of evacuation corridors.

Friday, 23 September 2005 Identified Wind Shelters (Shelters of Last Resort) Populated Wind Shelters with stragglers 10:00 PM received forecast Rita had shifted to the East, minimal impact expected to Houston area.

Saturday, 24 September 2005 Damage assessment. Planning for the return of the evacuees. Draft Timetable for the return. Establish relationships with the motor fuel delivery and sales industry. Provide law enforcement security for the fuel delivery trucks and petrol stations.

Transportation Vehicles Used Private motor vehicles carried Ninety Percent (90%) of all evacuees. Buses: Commercial buses carried Forty thousand or more evacuees. School Buses carried approximately Five Thousand souls and were the strategic reserve for the assisted care/nursing homes.

Aircraft evacuated the remaining 2100 Katrina Evacuees. To the extent possible all Medically Frail evacuees from Hospitals were moved by air, primarily air ambulance. Rail: two (2) trains: Union Pacific 967 souls Amtrack 957 persons

Issues with Evacuation Vehicles School Buses: Not Air Conditioned. C – 130’s: For Special Medical Needs? 727’s: Not configured as an air evacuation asset. Who loads baggage? Staging areas without proper passenger handling facilities and equipment

PETS Are not allowed in emergency shelters.

The Bottom Line The “Plan” was to evacuate 1.1 million people from the surge zone area. This included six (6) hospitals and several licensed assisted care/nursing homes, and approximately 20,000 people without adequate transportation. The pre-emergency identification of, and the planning for Homebound persons with Special Medical Needs, or the ability to evacuate themselves, was wholly inadequate. During an emergency is not the time to call an emergency operations center to tell them about a loved one/family member needing assistance with evacuation.

What we did was: An estimated 3 million people evacuated, of this approximately 50,000 had no transportation. All 100 or so hospitals evacuated or severely reduced operations. All known assisted care/nursing homes evacuated, even though the majority did not need to. At least 3,500 were evacuated from their homes with special medical needs.

The Cost: 134 people died in transit during the evacuation.

Was the Hurricane Rita evacuation from the Houston area a success?

 Assessed on a pass-fail analysis, we passed.

Ranked on a grade system, we got a D-.