City of College Station Blog

What’s Up College Station Archive

Grace Hallowell:

What’s Up, College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell, and today I’m joined by Tradd Mills, the emergency management coordinator for College Station. Hi, how are you?

Tradd Mills:

How are you?

Grace Hallowell:

I’m doing well. We were just chatting a little bit before we started here about how it has been a very wet spring.

Tradd Mills:

It has.

Grace Hallowell:

It has been a eventful storm season, and today, we’re here to talk about hurricane preparedness, which is not something you would typically think in our area, being so landlocked, but it is important, because it does still affect us.

Tradd Mills:

It does. As you mentioned, hurricane season is approaching. It starts June 1st. The National Weather Service and NOAA are already monitoring the oceans at this time. They started somewhere around the 15th of this past month. So, we are already preparing for hurricane season. And then throughout emergency management, we’re always thinking about storms. As you know, we’ve had a lot of storms over the past month, and we’ve had a lot of rain, lots of flooding. So, hurricane season just amplifies that, and we start worrying about more flooding, which is our primary concern during hurricane season for this general area.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. So, what is the first thing people should know about being prepared for hurricane season or flooding?

Tradd Mills:

I would say that we would probably want to plan for at least three days worth of food, supplies, water, and, of course, whenever flooding is a concern, you really want to focus on do not drive into that water. Turn around, don’t drown. That’s the common saying that you hear a lot of people say. But it only takes about six inches of water crossing over the road to actually stall a vehicle out. 12 inches of moving water will actually move the vehicle off the road. And I think two feet of water will actually push an average size SUV off the road, so, definitely turn around.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes, turn around, don’t risk it, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the area, you might not know what you’re driving into.

Tradd Mills:

Absolutely. You don’t know if the roads are washed away, you don’t know what’s under that water, you don’t know what could damage your vehicle or prevent you from getting out safely.

Grace Hallowell:

Now, let’s talk about another aspect to this, with the storms and hurricanes, is the power and the power grid. Sometimes the power can go out. So, how would we prepare for that situation?

Tradd Mills:

First off, I will say kudos to our power supply here in College Station. We have an astounding power supply here. However, there’s always a possibility that, during major storms that impact all of Texas, that our power supplies could go down. So, I would always plan for having power supplies such as backup batteries, backup charging cables, and everything like that, so that if you do need to reach out to family members, let them know that you’re okay, or request help from family, that you have that ability to do so, and keep your equipments charged.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes, our CSU crews do a great job-

Tradd Mills:

They do.

Grace Hallowell:

… in getting power restored as quickly as possible when it does go out. And let’s talk about having a plan with your friends and family. So, kind of a communication plan. I know, growing up, my family always did little mock fire drills, or mock emergency drills, so we would know what to do in case something happened. So, how can people stay prepared?

Tradd Mills:

Again, this part of the conversation is really important for hurricane season, but it’s also just important for general, terrible storms that we do have in this area at times. But always know where your family members are, know how to get in touch with them. Are they the ones that are in that impact area? Are they going to be in potential impact areas? And again, if you are, you also need to know where to hunker down. If you just happen to find yourself in an area of a bad storm, know where that portion of the building is that you can go to get safe. Interior, away from windows. That’s the kind of things that you to know.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes, don’t try to film it with your phone.

Tradd Mills:

Don’t try to film it with your phone. Don’t go out on the rooftop, or outside to see the devastation for itself. Stay safe, keep your family safe, and know where they are at all times.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. So, where can people go to find out more information, more preparedness tips? Where can they learn more?

Tradd Mills:

You can go to the CEOC’s website, or you can go to texasready.gov, or ready.gov. And there’s ample amounts of information on those websites to provide you all the information you need.

Grace Hallowell:

Is there anything else you’d like to share with us today?

Tradd Mills:

I don’t think so.

Grace Hallowell:

All right.

Tradd Mills:

I enjoyed this.

Grace Hallowell:

Yeah!

Tradd Mills:

This was very cool.

Grace Hallowell:

We enjoyed having you here. Thanks for being here.

Tradd Mills:

Thank you.

Grace Hallowell:

And that’s What’s Up.