Upcoming Events
| Fri, Jul 3rd, @8:00am - 05:00PM Certified Masters Gardener Course in Hopkins County |
| Fri, Jul 3rd, @8:00am - 05:00PM Raffle for The 3-Day walk for breast cancer |
| Fri, Jul 3rd, @10:00am - 10:00PM Faith Freedom Fest at Canton Market Place |
| Sat, Jul 4th, @8:00am - 05:00PM Raffle for The 3-Day walk for breast cancer |
| Sat, Jul 4th, @8:00am - 05:00PM Certified Masters Gardener Course in Hopkins County |
| Dan Flynn: 14,000 assist with Ike clean up |
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| Written by Dan Flynn |
| Friday, 19 September 2008 09:38 |
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Greetings Friends, Constituents and Supporters: As Hurricane IKE was building in the Gulf of Mexico Texas Governor Rick Perry, acting as Commander-in-Chief of our Texas Military Forces (TXMF), authorized up to 7,500 Texas Army, Air and State Guard personnel to active duty for support to local civil authorities. Servicing as a Lt. Commander in the Texas Maritime Regiment of the TXMF, I reported as ordered to serve and be ready to preserve life and mitigate impact to those in need in the storms path for our neighbors and neighboring states. The Governor’s Division of Emergency Management deployed along with the soldiers and airmen to provide support as Hurricane IKE approached. This deployment included numerous aircraft, including, helicopters on standby pre-staged in various cities all over Texas. Additional aircraft were available and standing by awaiting the call to duty. TXMF took action with C-130 aircraft conducting evacuations from Corpus Christi, Galveston and other areas along the Texas Gulf Coast. With Operation Coastal Sweep complete: Multi-agency (federal and state composition) focused to locate and advise people in harm's way along the path of the prospective coastal surge to evacuate promptly. The TXMF mission was to support, evacuate and prepare for the Special Needs population of designated areas in order to save lives due to the effects of a catastrophic hurricane. In pre-landfall The State of Texas conducted the organized, phased and supervised evacuation of people and pets from endangered coastal areas. Most Texans were able to self-evacuate. However; many needed assistance from the State of Texas. The added mission was to perform evacuation of the Special Needs population by both air and ground movement from regional evacuation hubs to various State Reception Areas, for onward movement to shelters. Days after landfall TXMF continues to provide life sustaining assistance in affected areas. The effort is being accomplished by established points of distribution, search and rescue operations, and debris mitigation as directed by the local Disaster District Chairman (DDC.) Important to note is this includes churches, numerous faith based organizations, as well as the American Red Cross who continues to provide assistance to state and local officials. This hurricane season has demonstrated that we must be prepared at all times. Hurricanes do not occur at convenient times with sufficiently timed intervals they only come when nature chooses. Members of the TXMF understand that our lives may be interrupted with very little notice to come to the aid of our fellow citizens whose lives are infinitely more interrupted by these storms. One Texas life lost is one too many and if the TXMF together with its civilian partners can prevent just one death and protect their property from rising waters, their objective has been met. The Defense Support to Civil Authorities is not a typical military operation and requires patience and adaptation to current circumstances. The best-laid plans will sometimes change in response to a weather event. The force is one that adapts, focuses on the objective at hand but never loses sight of its priority – “Our neighbors in need”. For those who are displaced, the hope is to provide a level of comfort during their shelter stay, and for those cleaning up after the storm. The goal is to help get communities back on their feet as quickly as possible. Hurricane IKE has become the largest power outage event in history disrupting electrical service across 35,000 square miles – 15,000 in Texas. In Texas millions of citizens were without power at one time. Over 14,000 linemen from all over Texas and the U.S. are assisting with recovery efforts. In some areas the outages are largely a result of distribution system issues, and in other areas there are major transmission lines down. The Utilities Companies all have emergency restoration plans and have shown they are committed to restoring power as quickly and efficiently as possible. The typical plan of restoration consists of bringing service back to facilities vital to safety, health and welfare, such as hospitals, water treatment plants and public service facilities. They then bring service to customers whose power is out due to damage to major power lines that serve thousands of customers. Then they assure service to customers whose power outage was caused by damage to smaller sections of power lines serving hundreds of customers and finally to be sure service to customers who have outages caused by damage to equipment that serves smaller customers. Many thanks and much appreciation to the many who continue to give their time money and effort to serve the needs of our great state in this time of need. It has truly been a unique experience to serve the citizens of Texas in this operation and it has been a rewarding experience to see the many everyday citizens willing to reach out and up to help their fellow citizens in an effort to get their lives back to normal. I want to thank the many churches, public officials and individuals throughout House District 2 that have joined with me in this continuing effort. This rebuilding effort will continue even after the TXMF and the churches and the Red Cross have gone home and I trust you will continue your prayers for all of the victims as they rebuild after such a devastating disaster. If you would like to donate or provide help my office would be happy to give names of agencies providing assistance in this time of need. It remains my pleasure and honor to represent all the people of House District 2. My staff and I continue to welcome your input and your questions. Contact our office located in the Capitol extension: E1.302. Mailing address: P. O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Toll free number 1-800-734-9515. May God bless you and our great state of Texas, Dan Flynn State Representative, District 2 |
