Galveston creates evacuation plan for most vulnerable residents

06:58 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 2, 2005

By Mike Zientek / 11 News

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GALVESTON, Texas -- With peak hurricane season just weeks away, NOAA announced Tuesday this year's hurricane season promises to become the most active on record.

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Buses are now set to go directly to the housing complexes and pick up residents in the event of a major storm.

It's a wakeup call for coastal residents to be ready.

The city of Galveston is taking action in case of a major storm.

You don't have to look far in Galveston to find kids being kids. But Renee Hill knows something the little ones don't.

They live in the Palm Terrace public housing complex, and if a hurricane threatened the city they'd be among the most vulnerable.

Most people here couldn't evacuate without assistance.

"I think about it but I don't know what I'm gonna do though," said Hill. "You know, it's like you don't have a car, where you gonna go? Who'll come get you?"

Galveston emergency planners said they have 17 city buses and 40 school buses, which could be used to evacuate residents. And now the city is set to make an agreement with the housing authority itself.

In fact, by late Tuesday afternoon the deal was done. Some buses will now go directly to the housing complexes and pick up residents.

"For safety, they should have some type of transportation so we can get out," said Hill.

There are concerns of a different kind on the other side of the island.

Gwyn Iken lives on the island's West End. There's no seawall here to provide protection from a storm surge. But Iken believes she has enough home insurance and she said she learned something in her native Kansas. Tornadoes are worse and come with no warning.

"With tornadoes I don't think you have as much of a chance," she said. "There are such big ones there."

But it's hurricanes Galveston worries about -- from the West End to the center of town.

It is now two months into this year's hurricane season and there have already been seven named storms. The next three names will be Harvey, Irene and Jose.