AS HURRICANE IKE CAME BARRELING through the Gulf Coast in the early days of last September, public and emergency management officials across Texas were preparing for the worst-case scenario even as that scenario changed daily as the hurricane modified its course.

Counties and the state had taken great measures to ensure that systemic weaknesses discovered two years prior, during Hurricane Rita, would be minimized before, during and after Ike. Leaders and journalists in the region worked together to declare and publicize mandatory evacuations for zip coded areas, communicating with the public about the importance of following the area’s evacuation plan so that highways didn’t become overwhelmed (trapping residents in their vehicles) and seeing that residents who stayed behind weren’t in flood plains. The community confusion and near-panic that had crippled government emergency preparedness workers during Hurricane Rita was controlled, despite a National Weather Service advisory warning that “persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family one- or two-story homes will face certain death.”

From the onset, state and local officials implemented lessons learned from Hurricane Rita, and by the time Ike hit, the storm faced a united front.

Residents both along the coast and inland were reminded days before to fill up their gas tanks, to stock up on necessary items and to call the newly functional 2-1-1 line to arrange for transportation to shelters. Contraflow routes led evacuating residents to safety. When areas ran out of fuel prior to the storm, fuel trucks were able to meet demand. Buses and ambulances were directed to areas most in need. Pre-positioned search and rescue teams used helicopters to help residents who had stayed behind and changed their minds, until the rescues became too dangerous for emergency personnel to attempt. It wasn’t perfect, not without a hitch, but it worked.

Among the recommendations made after Hurricane Rita were changes to the emergency management command structure. Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order for the state’s 24 regional councils of government to form Regional Unified Command Structures and name an Incident Commander to be a point of contact with the state during the disaster preparedness and response. At the time the mandate was made, there were still some kinks to work through: mainly, locally elected officials were concerned that having a regional authority would supersede or impair their own ability to help their citizens, the people they knew from down the road who would be coming to them for resources and advice. While city and county officials saw the wisdom in erasing, or at least fuzzying their borders during a disaster — hurricanes don’t abide by county lines — they felt local control was central to recovery. Local officials in several regions worked together to modify the recommendation, seeking not a regional commander, but a resources coordinator.

In Deep East Texas, it was that insight and implementation — as well as the development of its multi-agency command structure (MAC), formed in response to the same executive order — that officials credit with the region’s vastly improved hurricane response.

The Deep East Texas Council of Governments formed its multi-agency command center in Polk County, choosing Polk County Judge John Thompson as the region’s resources coordinator. The MAC operated for 11 days following Ike, functioning mostly as a tool for daily region-wide conference calls where county judges and emergency management officials could speak with each other, talk

“If they could stage resources from a MAC standpoint, then it would relieve the state,” Diggles said. “There was a challenging period there for a while when everyone was trying to figure out when they were going to get the next load of water and ice. You just knew there was some real nail-biting going on, because you were worried that (the resources) were going to go around us, or by us, and not just directly to us.”

Deep East Texas officials said it make sense for the state to give more emergency management authority to regions, since officials have more opportunities to network at the local level than at the state level. When a crisis comes, the relationships developed between neighbors helps with communication and trust.

“If we weren’t working together all the time, I don’t think it would be as effective,” said Houston County Judge Lonnie Hunt, adding that his county was also greatly aided by the emergency volunteer structure that was built up post-Rita. “If we had the resources just within our own county, we’d be able to do everything here and not bother anybody else, but it’s not feasible that we’re going to have all the resources just within our own county. The next best thing is to be able to go to your neighbors. It’s almost like we’re family, we’d do anything to help them and they’d do anything to help us. The closer to home we can bring the supplies and the command structure, the more effective and efficient it’s going to be.”

Overall, officials said, implementing the MAC felt less bureaucratic and more consistent.

“We had folks at the MAC we were familiar with, and the numbers you were supposed to call didn’t change five or six times, the people you were working with didn’t change five or six times,” Dougherty said.

Another issue that Deep East Texas officials felt needs to be addressed by the Legislature is the distinction between the state’s regional emergency management system organization and the county’s regional emergency management organization. The GDEM operates using disaster districts, while counties work with other members of its own regional council of government (COG) when determining the region’s emergency management plan. During the last legislative session, the disaster districts were realigned to overlay with the councils of government. However, the GDEM also utilizes regional field responders, also called regional liaison officers, and those officers did not have their districts realigned. Two DETCOG counties had a different RLO district, which added a separate layer to their communications’ requirements.

In testimony to the Senate Committee on Transportation and & Homeland Security on Oct. 27, Texas Association of Regional Councils Executive Director Penny Redington said the hurricane season had shown that multi-agency command structures and centers implemented in the state’s various regions were successful. She pointed to the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, which serves Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron counties and was hit by Hurricane Dolly. And, counties have taken on other large disaster coordination projects as well, such as a regional video teleconferencing initiative in the North Central Texas Council of Governments and the administration of the Texas Citizen Corps Program, which helps volunteers support local fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services and community public health records.

There were other problems and lessons learned that rose during the active hurricane season, and the state and councils of government conducted after-action meetings to discuss damage to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and necessary improvements to the state’s 2-1-1 call center system, which was created following Rita and used to evacuate the special needs population and had some kinks.

The University of Texas Medical Branch is especially facing some challenges. Ike caused an estimated $710 million in losses to the Galveston campus, only $100 million of which is covered by insurance. The UTMB Board of Regents was forced to lay off 3,000 employees and reduce health services in the area, and greater attention has been drawn toward finding a way to pay the hospital for its uncompensated care costs.