Confusion Over PODs In Houston Results From State’s Refusal To Supply Logistics

As confusion abounds over who was responsible for the difficulties surrounding the deployment of PODs (Points Of Delivery) for ice, water, and food in Harris County following Hurricane Ike, State Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) says the blame rests with the state.

Gallegos, whose senate district included the hardest hit areas of Harris County and Houston, told Capitol Annex that the difficulties began Sunday around 3 p.m., shortly before a major press conference in Houston.

“Yesterday, just before that press conference, someone from the state called the city, the county, and FEMA and said that they were not participating in the PODs program,” Gallegos said.

Until Sunday, the state had planned to participate in the deployment of the PODs. Who exactly from the state placed the call hasn’t yet been confirmed. Some sources tell Capitol Annex the call came from State Emergency Management Coordinator Jack Collie.

With his district hit hard by the storm and many residents remaining behind in zones of Harris County where evacuation was optional, Gallegos says he’s been getting queries from district residents concerning why the state wasn’t helping.

“They ask, ‘why isn’t the state participating,’ and I’m a state official and I cannot tell them. I don’t know,” Gallegos said.

While Gallegos doesn’t know, those who do know aren’t talking. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was asked about this during a press conference yesterday in Houston and failed to respond.

Houton’s ABC 13 addressed some of this in coverage earlier today:

The original plan called for the State of Texas to distribute the FEMA supplies. Within minutes of Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff walking into an afternoon briefing Sunday, Mayor White and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett were told that the state was not equipped to distribute supplies. That’s when Houston and Harris County mobilized thousands of their employees, something they were very willing to do.

“I really like this fact, at one point the state of Texas wasn’t trying to hold on to some responsibility, but given the devastation of coastal areas, the state has limited resources,” said Mayor White. “We’re all members of the same team. If we can fill in and backfill for them, fine.

As a result of the delays and confusion surrounding the deployment of the pods, many in Gallegos’ district and across Houston were without necessary food and water.

If part of the state’s reason for pulling out of the PODs program, that could be the result of deploying resources far too early in advance of the storm.

Gallegos, who was a Houston firefighter before he became a senator and has worked many hurricanes, said the state’s deployments began too early given the nature of Hurricane Ike.

“The storm was all over the place. They should have waited 72 hours before they deployed. Instead, they deployed assets almost a week before the storm hit Houston. The assets were deployed from Corpus Christi to Refugio, because that’s where they thought it would hit at that time. Then, when the storm changed course, they deployed assets to the Matagorda Bay area. By the time we knew that the storm would strike Houston and Galveston, 60 percent of the state’s assets had been deployed somewhere else,” Gallegos said.

Of course, redeploying assets takes time. Gallegos, however, says that better planning and waiting until the wobbly storm firmed up its course prior to deploying the state’s assets would have been a better move.

“If they had waited 72 hours, there still would have been time to do the evacuations. They could have got the people out of the hospitals, got the buses ready, had the assets in place,” he said.

“I have been in contact with emergency response professionals who have been involved in the planning of the response since it began. They’ve been on the conference calls, and they will tell you that this was not done the way it should have been,” he said.

Though Gallegos’ district was hard hit, he said he’s not heard one peep out of Texas Governor Rick Perry or his office.

“I’ve had a call from the White House, but nothing from the Governor,” Gallegos said. Although he hasn’t called Gallegos, Perry did appear at a Saturday press conference with Sen. Mike Jackson (R-La Porte). Gallegos says he wasn’t invited to that press conference.

Gallegos did note that Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has been keeping in touch with Senators through regular conference calls.

And, in spite of the fact that he is the Chair of the Senate Committee on Evacuations and Flooding, FEMA hasn’t bothered to call him, either.

Technorati Tags: David Dewhurst, Ed Emmett, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Galveston, Harris County, Houston, Hurricane Ike, Jack Collie, Mario Gallegos, Matagorda Bay, Michael Chertoff, Mike Jackson, Rick Perry, Senate, Senate Committee on Evacuations and Flooding, Texas, White, White House

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