Residents can still register for 211, in case Dean turns north

AUSTIN — Emergency planners on Monday prodded Rio Grande Valley residents who need a ride out of town during an evacuation to register, even as Hurricane Dean set its sights on Mexico.

Dean on Monday afternoon appeared headed for the Mexican Gulf coast rather than the Valley, as earlier predicted. But officials said people in Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr counties with medical problems, no car, or other barriers to leaving can still register as a precaution for the rest of hurricane season, which runs through Nov. 30.

The registration system will help avoid the tragedies like those after Hurricane Katrina when rescuers couldn’t find victims in New Orleans, said Jack Colley, chief of the governor’s Division of Emergency Management.

“We learned from that,” he said.

Anyone who needs help evacuating can register by calling 211, said Krista Moody, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry. The state will then plan to have buses available and make accommodations for those with medical or other needs.

As of noon Sunday, the state stopped accepting applications for Dean evacuations, but residents can still call 211 and an operator will stay on the line to make sure they can apply with local officials, Moody said.

Statewide more than 50,000 are registered, she said.

Cameron County officials have tried all summer to get residents to register, but only about 1,000 people responded, said County Judge Carlos Cascos. By Monday afternoon, residents afraid of Dean were calling in droves.

“It think it’s like quadrupled in the last 24 hours,” Cascos said. “But it’s a good thing.”

Perry and state emergency leaders Monday morning urged residents to prepare for the worse, even if Dean appeared to have Mexico in its sights.

They had deployed more than 1,000 highly-trained special forces from 72 organizations to help evacuate. Twenty-eight cities were ready to take Valley residents.

Gas stations had plenty of fuel, 3,000 buses were on standby in the Valley and elsewhere and medical personnel were stationed throughout the state to evacuate 133,500 special-needs residents from the Valley and help up to 1.2 million find safety if necessary.

“If you live near the Texas coast, get your house and your belongings in order,” Perry told reporters from the state’s emergency command center in Austin.

Residents should fill their gas tanks, collect important documents and medications, have three days of food and water on hand and study evacuation routes to be prepared if a mandatory evacuation is ordered, Perry said.

Although the storm appeared headed for Mexico’s coast between Tampico and Veracruz, state leaders want to be prepared for it to shift.

“Our concern for the worst is if that storm crosses the Yucatan and re-forms in the Gulf, like they do, and re-establishes itself somewhere off the current track,” said Jack Colley, chief of the governor’s Division of Emergency Management.

A direct hit on the Valley would be one of two “worst-case” scenarios for Texas, the other being a hit on Houston, said Homeland Security director Steve McCraw.

The last time a hurricane made a direct hit on the Valley was in 1967 when Hurricane Beulah killed 44 people.

The 1.2 million people in Willacy, Cameron and Hidalgo counties include more than 200,000 in colonias, most of which are in flood plains. There are also 305 nursing homes and 17 hospitals that present extra challenges in evacuations, McCraw said.

At Valley Regional Medical Center, hospital administrators were prepared to evacuate patients if necessary.

“We kept assessing the situation,” said hospital spokeswoman Robin Brechot. “We’ve been working with our sister hospitals and Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen and other hospitals in San Antonio ready to transfer anyone we needed to transfer.”

Brechot says the patients would have been moved by ground and air.

So far, more than 133,500 people in the Valley have been identified through various means as needing evacuation assistance, McCraw said. Of those, 7,000 need medical attention and 1,600 have such serious conditions they would need to be carried out in an evacuation.

Herald online editor Diana Eva Maldonado contributed to this report.