CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With all eyes on Hurricane Beryl, the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County Emergency Planning meeting Tuesday morning was packed with officials working on their game plan as the storm could impact South Texas.
Everyone from the city, county and even local business and refinery officials were present to ask questions.
Emergency officials emphasized the importance of communication, especially when it comes to evacuations.
Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Corpus Christi Jace Johnson said every storm is different, so officials make some decisions on the fly as they get each bit of new information.
He said North Beach flooding during Alberto helped officials with indicators for future evacuations.
"Now in a way we have a benchmark," Johnson said. "We know what that four-foot storm surge, so to speak, how that affected North Beach as an example. And we know now that we need to increase our communication strategies, that we can think out of the box. How can we go above and beyond what we already have in place? And make sure that we reach out to communities like North Beach, especially when we know that there is a potential of that storm surge."
Dee Hawkins, who heads emergency operations for Nueces County said the county's action plan during Tropical Storm Alberto was a success.
"They told us we were going to get three feet of inundation from the storm surge and everything they said happened, so it was well planned," Hawkins said. "We had a lot of people that were prepared and taking action and mitigating after it passed and so yeah, it was a successful process."
3NEWS asked Robstown Fire Chief Javier Zapata what his biggest concern about the next storm is.
"I think everybody worries about the flooding, you know, a lot of rain." Zapata said.
Social media is the way for Robstown residents to keep in contact with his department.
"We will be sending updates on our Facebook page through the city of Robstown and the Robstown Fire Department," he said.
There was a consensus among first responders that residents should realize the practice of riding out dangerous storms is over.