County hurricane response smooth

Madison County disaster response leaders meet in the Madison County courtoom for a state conference call in response to Hurricane Gustav. Madison County Emergency Coordinator Shelly Butts, second from right, answers a question while Guardian EMS personnel, Madisonville Police Chief Gary Clendennen, rear left, Madison County Emergency Director Judge Art Henson and Madisonville Volunteer Firefighter Gordon Plumlee listen. Roxanne McKnight/Madisonville Meteor/Get photos online at madisonvillemeteor.com

Roxanne McKnight with The Meteor

After all the planning and drills for emergencies, Madison County finally got the chance to apply the lessons to real life as Hurricane Gustav rolled toward Louisiana, sending busloads of evacuees away from the affected area.

The ink was barely dry on the agreement between the county and Madison County Fairground Association to allow the county to take control of fairground facilities in case of disaster, when this first occasion arose to use it.

More than 90 National Guardsmen descended on Madisonville and set up the refueling station while county organizations prepared the facility as a rest stop for the anticipated evacuees. Volunteers from across the county came together to make the transition go smoothly and prepare the logistics involved.

With the hurricane about to hit and evacuees pouring out of Louisiana, the National Guard set up the fairground as a refueling station for buses of special needs people. In this case, the term “special needs” includes not only those with medical issues, but anyone who could not leave the hurricane-hit area on their own.

The state response team held conference calls twice daily with emergency management responders over the weekend of Aug. 30-31 to keep everyone informed of what was happening across Texas.

Heads of first responding organizations as well as volunteers from the community met and followed through on the steps they had practiced so many times.

By Monday at noon, no buses had come through, so the state gave the order to deactivate the refueling station, and the responders began to stand down. On Tuesday, however, the state gave the order to reactivate the facility, so by press time Tuesday afternoon, the National Guardsmen, who were still at the fairgrounds, began reactivating the facility as a fueling station in anticipation of evacuee buses coming through.

Madison County Emergency Management Director County Judge Art Henson and Emergency Management Coordinator Shelly Butts were the lynch pins in the response, making sure all the bases were covered. Local businesses did their part, donating food, water and other supplies to help the volunteers, especially the National Guardsmen, who came here from all over the state. Individuals signed up to help wherever needed.

Carter Enterprises fed all the National Guardsmen dinner on Sunday evening and lunch Monday. The Downtown Merchants Association donated eight precooked briskets for the Guard, while the Salvation Army bought groceries for all their other meals. Firefighters volunteered their time and effort to cook their meals. Wal-Mart donated $200 of paper goods; Brookshire Brothers extended a special price on drinking water.

Other volunteers included the Madisonville Volunteer Fire Department, Midway Volunteer Fire Department, North Zulch Volunteer Fire Department, Madisonville Police, Madison County Sheriff's Office, the Lions Club and Madison County Chamber of Commerce, which solicited and registered the volunteers.

A group called MARS, which stands for Military Affiliate Radio System, set up to provide ham radio service on a voluntary basis.

The project was seen as a success since everything went so smoothly.

“We had a tremendous amount of work that went into this effort,” said Butts.

“Things went extremely well,” agreed Henson. “It was extremely well-organized by our Emergency Coordinator Shelly Butts and her crew, Assistant Coordinator Denise Landry and all the volunteers. Rae Kubiak and Sharon Phelps at the Chamber of Commerce headed up enlisting and registering the volunteers.

“We had more than 430 volunteer hours donated by about 50 people. The Salvation army, with Kathy Marsh and Bunkin Bennett did a wonderful job of arranging food for the 91 National Guardsmen who were at the Fairgrounds.”

Henson expressed gratitude also to the businesses that contributed to the emergency response effort, especially Carter Enterprises, Wal-Mart, Brookshire Brothers and others.