As Harvey Recovery Focus Shifts, Officials Say The Storm’s Impact Could Have Been Far Worse

Politicians and emergency managers have not yet engaged in detailed after-action analysis of the storm response.

By Jill AmentSeptember 16, 2017 1:06 pm

A lot of people outside Texas have been asking questions that we haven’t: when it came to handling Hurricane Harvey, what worked and what didn’t? With Gov. Greg Abbott declaring a shift in post-Harvey operations, can we finally ask that question?

Eva Ruth Moravec, an Austin-based reporter for the Washington Post says Texas officials aren’t quite ready to do that.

“From my experience, state officials are really not quite ready to do that kind of after-action analysis at this point,” Moravac says. “…What they have focused on as the storm has had several different phases of affecting Texas, is the immediate effort.”

 

Officials now say Harvey could have resulted a much bleaker picture than it did in Texas. In fact, Moravac says officials have indicated that some resources that were available for storm relief were not needed. These included refrigerated vehicles designed to transport bodies, she says.

At a press briefing Thursday, Abbott said the number of Harvey-related fatalities currently stands at 82. Abbott says the threat to lives from the storm is largely over.

Written by Shelly Brisbin.