The hurricane was named “Danielle,” but it was strikingly similar to one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit Galveston County since the 1900 Storm.
Participants in this week’s statewide hurricane exercise quickly discovered that the storm scenario used to test their emergency plans was modeled after Hurricane Ike, which struck the county Sept. 13, 2008.
“We learned a great deal from Hurricane Ike, and have implemented many improvements from a planning and preparedness standpoint,” said County Judge Jim Yarbrough. “Dealing with a disaster will never be easy, but these exercises help us get better prepared for the next storm.”
Yarbrough, the county’s emergency management director, visited Wednesday with about 40 emergency managers participating in the hurricane exercise at the Galveston County Emergency Management Facility on FM 646 in League City.
The exercise helped test the ability of cities and the county to acquire resources, conduct search and rescue, track medical special-needs evacuees, and establish points of distribution for water and ice.
“You can never exercise enough,” said the judge, a long-time proponent of countywide planning for disasters. “Each time we learn a little more about how to do things better.”
Under Yarbrough’s leadership, approximately $500 million in disaster relief funding has been allocated to Galveston County since Hurricane Ike. These funds are being used to rebuild damaged homes, improve roads and drainage, remove damaged structures from the floodplain, and install generators countywide. The Galveston County Office of Emergency Management is a focal point in the recovery process.

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