LOCAL EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM The cities of Bee Cave and Lakeway are using a city- controlled emergency alert system called Voyent Alert to update residents on emergencies through text message, email, an app or a landline voice call.
system, a reverse-911 communication service aimed at keeping citizens informed during emergency situ- ations, Harvey said. This system allows residents to receive alerts through a mobile app, text messages, email and a landline voice call about potentially life-threatening emergencies or major disasters. “It is our desire to have the Voyent Alert sys- tem as the primary means of communicating with residents in times of an emergency,” Kilgore said. “Many people are used to alternate platforms and other social media, and our hesitation is that you never know when a social media platformmight be limited to you or might decide it needs to screen the information before it’s posted. Those are unac- ceptable parameters for a city to transmit emer- gency information.” When a propane gas truck overturned on Flint Rock Road in September, Lakeway city sta informed residents and told them when to expect the next update, which went from every two hours to every four hours as things slowed down, Kil- gore said. This system of regular updates will sim- ilarly be utilized in the new alert system. The city is urging citizens to join the service, which has 1,200 residents signed up to receive alerts in Lake- way and 542 signed up in Bee Cave, according to city o cials. Lack of coordination between local and county o cials also became an issue during the winter storm, Kilgore said. Travis County fell short in communicating with smaller cities outside of Aus- tin concerning important information about the storm, prompting Lakeway and Bee Cave to work more closely in their own coordination e orts moving forward, he said. “The identi ed shortfall that remains is that the county has not reached out to establish backup means of communication in an emergency with the local governing bodies,” Kilgore said. “We have to be self-su cient. I cannot depend on Travis County for information or help.” Ann Howard is the county commissioner for Pre- cinct 3, which encompasses most of the Lake Tra- vis-Westlake area. Among other duties, the county commissioner works under the county judge on emergency response and public health coordi- nation e orts. During the initial storm, Howard advocated to allocate resources for West Austin residents during a time when much of the situation was unclear, she said. “Where it’s just so di cult is that we had the storm in the middle of a pandemic, and as much as we wanted to learn from the storm and be better pre- pared, it’s the same professionals working on the pan- demic response as the storm response,” Howard said. “Those small teams have been overtaxed with work, and I’m con dent we all wish we were further along.”
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response that gets everybody prepared a little bit more than we were last year, because we learned so much from that storm.” Increasing communication citywide In the year since the storm, area o cials have worked on increasing communication between cities and with residents. One change made by Bee Cave and Lakewaywas the introduction of the Voyent Alert MAJOR CHANGES MADE BY AUSTIN AREA ENERGY SUPPLIERS The two largest energy providers in the Lake Travis- Westlake area have made several changes in the past year to address shortcomings exposed by the winter storm.
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Residents can customize the area they would like to receive alerts for and create alerts for additional locations, such as a school or workplace. Alerts can inform residents of hazardous roadways , gas leaks , winter storms , hurricanes , water-boil notices and other local emergencies .
SOURCES: CITY OF LAKEWAY, VOYENT ALERT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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Since the storm, Kilgore said it has felt as if How- ard is the only one on the county level advocating for residents in Lake Travis-Westlake. Focusingon residents A month before the one-year anniversary of the storm, the sixth and nal report on the storm from Texas Health and Human Services raised the storm-related death count to 246 people. Among those deaths, over 59% were age 60 and older. Rollingwood previously developed a list of vul- nerable residents, including seniors, that was used during the winter storm to check in and ensure they had food, water and a means of staying warm, Roll- ingwood Police Chief Jason Brady said. Other cities nearby have since taken similar steps to develop a running list of residents to keep tabs on during emergencies. Due to the hilly terrain of Rollingwood, an elec- tric-powered system is used to pump sewage up the landscape through lifts and to its destination. When power went out in the city during the storm, Rollingwood public works sta worked around the clock to keep sewage owing properly and prevent back ow from ooding into homes and into Lady Bird Lake, Brady said. The city has purchased stand- alone backup generators in the past year to station at each lift and prevent the potentially disastrous con- sequences of a sewage over ow frommaterializing. Cities also are planning to upgrade their emergency
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PEDERNALES ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE: • Reviewed storm response and developed action plan • Created new texting alerts for outages • Revised emergency operations with a plan to handle load-shedding events, individual outages • Enhanced outage map with a real-time search option • Used new software to identify areas in need of vegetation maintenance • Enhanced outage management system to improve ability to predict outages • Added drones to identify cause and location of outages AUSTIN ENERGY: • Determined communication tools and resources for nondigital outreach (ongoing) • Located funds to secure backup resources for Austin Communications Team (power packs, mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, etc.) (early 2022) • Resolved technical issues for outages not re ected on outage map • Retrained outage map managers on data input • Prioritized retaining power in critical facilities (ongoing) • Established communication process to assist medically vulnerable (ongoing) • Communicated with commercial and industrial customers importance of chemical safety during prolonged outages
“ RESIDENTS KNOWBESTWHATWORKS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS. MAYBE THERE IS AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT DOESN’T FLOODANDDIDN’T LOSE POWER, SOMAYBE THAT’S THE PLACE TOGO.” ANN HOWARD, TRAVIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER FOR PRECINCT 3
SOURCES: AUSTIN ENERGY, PEDERNALES ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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