Remember all those volunteer rescuers who got in their boats to get flood victims during Harvey? Harris County remembers, and they would like to formalize that a bit for the next time.
With emergency responders across the Houston area overwhelmed by the scope of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation, the 911 system overburdened and outside help stymied by high water, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett went on television on Aug. 27 to make a public plea.
Wherever you are, if you have a boat, Emmett said, get out in the neighborhood and help evacuate people trapped by floodwaters.
Now, local officials are working up a plan that would better coordinate response – ahead of time – among volunteers during disasters such as Harvey.
Emmett and other county officials want to create a database of residents across the county who own boats, vehicles that can travel in high water, and other rescue equipment to efficiently target volunteer response, which studies show are critical lifelines during disasters.
“We have to get all that coordinated,” he said.
[…]
While volunteer response was “successful through the county,” a more organized force could help alleviate at least two problems, Emmett said.
In one case, volunteers with flat-bottom boats showed up to help flooded Kingwood residents, but more powerful boats with motors were needed to handle the currents.
In another case, volunteers from the Cajun Navy – a similar volunteer disaster response team based in Louisiana – had difficulties in finding specific addresses of homes that had residents who needed to be rescued during the storm.
“Clearly there were some issues,” Emmett said.
A database would allow emergency responders to summon volunteers with the proper equipment to areas most in need faster, even if the storm isn’t as severe or widespread as Harvey.
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This makes sense. The county is never going to have the resources to handle all the rescue needs in another Harvey-like situation. There will be people who are willing and able to help. It’s in everyone’s interests for the county to have some idea who these people are, so they can let them know where their help is most needed and can be most effective. It’s a low-cost investment with a high upside. There’s no reason not to do this.
Fair and balanced coverage. Ed Emmett has a good idea here, a low cost way to efficiently coordinate volunteers with those who need help.
I thought Uber missed a huge PR opportunity during Harvey to make a tweak to their service in order to connect people with boats to people who needed them. (AirB&B stepped up to tweak their service in order to help people find temporary shelter.) I think a more-flexible partnership like that would be more effective, quicker to deploy at scale, and easier for everyone involved.
Basically because people are too ignorant to understand simple property and sales tax loopholes that fund county emergency response we are forced to rely on the cajun navy.