Just after noon Wednesday the first of two waves of emergency vehicles started arriving in Montgomery County. Forty-one state agencies and private organizations combined.
Many calls were made to news agencies and law enforcement inquiring about the nature of all the command vehicles marked DPS units and other equipment traveling down Interstate 45 to State Highway 242. They continued to U.S. 59 with the assistance of Precinct 4 Constables units shutting down north and south traffic at 242 to allow the convoy uninterrupted travel.
The Texas Department of Emergency Management Rapid Response Task Force continued to Kingwood College where the west lot awaited them for the full drill on Thursday.
Dr. Denise Walker who is the Emergency Management Officer for the Lone Star system assisted the state in the use of the campus for this. She noted one of the reasons for their selection of the college was the close proximity to the Texas gulf coast.
Almost 200 people from such organizations as Texas Baptist Men, who as most remember assisted many Montgomery County residents especially in the Grangerland area during Hurricane Ike with repairs and clearing trees. Additionally, DPS, Salvation Army, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Parker County, and several others joined the group.
DPS Trooper Richard Standifer said, ” this drill is an attempt to eliminate incidents which happened last time with communications and get everyone on the same page.”
All this as the National Weather Service watches a tropical wave over the western Caribbean which continues to produce showers over Hispaniola. Some upper-level winds appear conducive for slow development as it moves west-northwest at about 10 mph. They advise there is a 40% chance of this storm turning into a tropical cyclone within the next forty-eight hours. Some models actually bring this storm into the Gulf of Mexico early next week.
