Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY— Following the flooding events that took place in several areas across the Texas Hill Country earlier this month, Wimberley City Council discussed weather-related emergency communications, along with sirens and alert notifications during its July 17 meeting.
According to Wimberley Mayor Jim Chiles, he has been in conversation with director of Hays County Office of Emergency Services Mike Jones, who said that the county has been working to receive a grant that would help in getting sirens and the mayor said that Wimberley is interested in having those for weather-related emergency communications.
“I am not sure how long that’s going to be before that happens, but he will keep us informed,” Chiles said.
“I also spoke with the Emergency Operations Center yesterday and when the National Weather Service sends out an alert, which they sent out at one o’clock in the afternoon on July 3, they were monitoring all of the weather with the National Weather Service,” he continued. “The emergency came out at about two or three o’clock in the morning; had that been in our area, they would have sent out alerts via cellphones to the towers and anybody that was connected to those towers would have received an alert, saying ‘There’s a flood warning. You need to take action.’ It doesn’t mean people would abide by it or listen to it, or they may have their phones off, but anybody’s phone that was on and connected to particular towers would receive that alert.”
Council member Rebecca Minnick said that they need to “dig a little deeper” into the topic and what’s appropriate for the area, recommending that the city of Wimberley implement a task force with the individuals involved.
“It is not just siren[s]. It’s not just alerts. It is what is best for the community. What is the thing that is most feasible for our emergency services team and the cooperation that we are going to get? We talked about this,” Minnick said. “We are one piece of this on the river and I think we are talking mostly about flooding, but it could be fire. It could be a tornado. It could be any of these other things.”
She shared that July 3, she was at the Wimberley Cafe and everyone started to receive alerts on their phones, but all that Wimberley was receiving was “a little bit of rain.” So, there needs to be a group together that can engage with the community to see what is most appropriate and to look at all of the options for the local area, Minnick added.
Another council member, David Cohen, said that Wimberley should coordinate with Hays County to see what kinds of alert systems could be put into place. He said that there could be a system that has different sounds for each natural disaster.
Also at the meeting, Christopher Robbins, interim fire chief at Wimberley Fire Rescue, explained that it’s a multi-faceted approach and it has to be deliberate and dynamic when pursuing safer alternatives for the community.
“While sirens are extremely important, they are one piece of the overall mitigation and flood concern plan. I think we really need to review past plans. I think we need to address new operational tactics and initiatives. I think we need to restore — and we have been doing it exceptionally over the last two years — our communication avenues between the city, the [emergency services district], the county [and] the EOC,” he said. “It is a partnership. It is going to take a lot of time. It’s going to be complex to truly pursue what avenues we need to address when it comes to these types of situations.”
The interim fire chief said that they need to be prepared for the future because there are plenty of hazardous events and critical problems that could arise across the county.
“Being informed is what’s really going to impact the survivability of our first responders, our citizens and recovery,” Robbins said.
As part of the citizens comment period, former mayor Gina Fulkerson asked for the city council to strongly consider sirens, knowing that there would need to be some kinks figured out, so there aren’t too many going off and the public would still pay attention to them. She also said that people should support any legislative efforts so that Wimberley is included in those.
To listen to the full council discussion, visit www.cityofwimberley.com
