Murrile presents emergency management update
Lavaca County emergency management coordinator Greg Murrile presented an update of his office at Monday’s Lavaca County Commissioners’ Court meeting.
In regards to the devastating flooding that took place in the Hill Country on the Fourth of July, Murrile spoke to the court about Lavaca County being prepared if an event like the Kerrville flood took place here.
“We have a very different situation here in the Coastal Plains than they have in the Hill Country,” Murrile said. “In the Hill Country with the Guadalupe and Frio, those rivers form between steep terrain and that forces the water to funnel. So, they have a very, very serious situation when they have extreme amounts of rain in terms of flash flooding.”
Murrile said flash flooding certainly can occur in Lavaca County, but the county has the luxury of flat land and the water spreads out as it flows down stream.
The county has experienced two major historic flooding incidents in 1940 and 1981.
In looking at the alarm settings on the Lavaca River, Murrile said there are three locations that measure the potential for flood downstream.
He said one is located on the bridge between Witting and Komensky, while another is on the bridge near Breslau and the third is on the bridge in Hallettsville. Regarding the location in Hallettsville, Murrile said it does not do much good for Hallettsville citizens, but is good for those down stream.
In increasing the chances for earlier notification of potential flooding, Murrile said he lowered the threshold five from the previous level.
“It was done to give us plenty of time to be prepared,” Murrile said. “We don’t want minutes, we want hours or possibly days to be prepared if we need to have an evacuation along the river. The biggest concern we have are we going to be prepared to have notification.”
Regarding a siren system, Murrile spoke of the type of warning systems located in the cities of Lavaca County.
“Currently in Hallettsville, there is only one siren located on the tower next the fire station and it is inoperable. It does not work due to an electrical issue,” Murrile said.
He said Yoakum installed a siren 8 years ago and is currently working on maintenance of it, while Shiner has three working sirens located throughout the city, while Moulton does not have a siren.
Murrile said the hot topic regarding the disaster in the Hill Country is the alert system.
“I feel sorry for the county judge and mayors in the Hill Country, who are being beaten on by the media,” Murrile said. “The biggest thing, which is a misnomer, is about the alerts sent out from the weather center. Also, understand we (Lavaca County) do have the Code Red system, which is an opt in system and you have to sign up for it.”
He said if a county resident does not sign up for Code Red, they will not receive notifications from the county.
“However, warnings from the National Weather Service (NWS) do not come from the Code Red System or my office. They come from the NWS,” Murrile said. “If you have the emergency alert turned on your cell phone, no matter where you are in the United States, you will get those warnings as soon as they happen. The ones who are saying the warnings were not sent, they were sent through the NWS.
Murrile said the Code Red System will only send if that it is turned on, and it is turned on in Lavaca County. He said if the NWS sends a warning, it does automatically alert the county’s Code Red system.