City's Ike planning knocked off course by unexpected rescue calls
USA TODAY's Marisol Bello has filed this report on how storm planning by officials in one East Texas community was blown off course by unexpected rescue calls from residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation order:
In Orange, Texas, 22 miles from the Gulf and just west of the Louisiana border, officials were caught off guard by the number of emergency rescues they had to make between Friday night and Saturday morning.
Since Friday night, the city made about 300 emergency rescues, picking people up by boat who were trapped in their attics or roofs, says deputy fire chief Jerry Ziller, who coordinates the city's emergency operations.
"Literally, people were calling, 'I'm in my attic, I'm at this address, come pick me up.' "
The town of 20,000 people ordered a mandatory evacuation on Sept. 11, says city manager Shawn Oubre. It has a system in place that allows residents to pre-register to be evacuated by the city in the event of a hurricane. About 714 people are signed up, says Ziller.
"We planned well," Ziller says. "What we didn't realize was that a lot of people didn't leave ... This morning when the calls started to come in, we thought, 'Whoa, we got a problem.' "
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