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I was just wondering how many depts are prepared for a Hurricane/ tropical storm hit? How much pre planning and training goes in affect to prepare for a storm or if you get affected much at all.

I know here in Texas we have had sooooo many drills lately that we as agencies are ready but the general population is sooo tired of all the warnings and drills that they all say they aren't leaving because we are just "running around like chickens with our heads cut off". I think maybe we try too hard at times. YES we were caught off guard by Rita and Kartina but  those were BIG storms and it wouldnt have mattered how ready we were it was gonna do big damage. I hope that it isnt like that everywhere  but we are very worried here in our area that the next time we " cry wolf" and it is real  everyone is gonna be caught either out on the roads at the last min or in their homes or whats left of them.  I pray it isnt that way but it could be.

Thank you all for your input, it is always good to hear from deffrent people, I know when Francis and Katrina hit us here it realy opened our eyes we made 62 Swift water rescues in a 24 Hr time frame thats not including evacuations or minor cars stuck in water that swimming or boat rescues just because it hit so fast and nobody thought it would get that bad and some people are just stupid if you see water across a road and you cant see the lines in the road dont even try it but some people think as long as they go fast and water doesnt go up there tail pipe there ok, or one article I read said to "deflate your tires becuase the air in theme would make your car float" what an idiot!! Again thank you all.

Well JR.  We check all water gear boats and personal.Just  got a boat and more swiftwater gear cant wait to get to use it to go get the morons

Yes things are a little different here in Texas.  At least this time we are on our toes about things.  We are watching intently to see if we are going to have any issues from this storm or not.

Texas has been on top of response for a long time. When katrina hit, and we were all watching the swamped school buses and people on their roofs, Texas was responding to the coast with hundreds of school buses and rescue task forces. We don't take evacuations lightly either. If a mandatory evacuation comes down, PEOPLE WILL LEAVE or go to jail. As of right now, we already have tons of National Guard and rescue personnel staged at different locations inland, deployed and waiting to respond. Each Texas city in the Southern half anyway, has 75-200 schools ready to become shelters. We currently have flooding and rescues happening as it is from thunderstorms in Val Verde and other border counties. So this just adds to it. Plus the fact that Central Texas is flash flood capitol of the world per the NWS, I think we are as prepared as possible.

We have 11 miles of the French Broad river in our district that floods. We have place depth guages at known flood points along roads that are traveled and unfortunately crossed by the public. We also took nonflooding pictures of the areas so that when they are under water we can know what is under the water as hazards. We have pre designated launch areas.