Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:40 am

By GERRY L. DICKERT
The Bee

Theresa Wigley’s greatest concern is that people won’t evacuate the next time a hurricane heads for Southeast Texas.

And what’s fueling her concern is the price of gasoline.

Wigley, the county’s emergency management director, finds herself in a catch-22 situation where she all but insists that people evacuate in the face of a storm, but also realizes there are people living here who simply can’t afford an extra tank of gas to do so.

“In the seven years I’ve been here, it’s the one question I can’t find an answer to,” she said. “When you struggle week to week to make ends meet, just to buy enough gas to get back and forth to work, how do you tell them to save money just in case a hurricane comes along?”

Though there are no simple answers to this problem, there is at least one thing citizens can do to help themselves in advance of a storm’s arrival — register with 211.

By calling 2-1-1 on your telephone, citizens can pre-register for free transportation out of the county in the event of an evacuation. Residents will converge on local hubs where state-sponsored buses will be waiting to take people to a predetermined destination to the north and out of harm’ way.

But still, Wigley, who as a member of the Emergency Management Department for Hardin County rode out the storm in Kountze when Rita blew through, understands that people aren‘t so quick to leave behind vehicles and homes.

“People are independent and want to take care of themselves,” she said. “When you have a car and a home and that’s all you have, it’s difficult to convince that person that they need to leave. But I’m sitting here now telling you that you need to leave.”

As Wigley recalls the moments just before and during the storm of September 2005, chill bumps still rise on her arms. “I can remember the looks on people’s faces. It was fear.”

Rita took on the face of shredded roofs and 100-year-old trees snapped in two as the winds did the greatest deal of damage to Hardin County.

But the next time a storm comes through, a storm surge and subsequent flooding could pose the greatest hazards in the aftermath of a hurricane.

“There will be a lot of lives lost,” she said. “If people choose not to leave, I’m scared to death that a lot of people just won’t make it through a storm like that.”

Wigley says that she fully understands the day-to-day impossibility of saving even a few dollars for what could happen when buying groceries is a main concern.

“I’m not telling people to go without food so they can put aside money for gasoline just in case,” she said. “Get a jar and save some pennies. Do whatever you have to do be prepared. Everyone needs to leave if there’s a hurricane ... everyone.”

Wigley said that those who left for Rita typically have said they won’t leave again, while those who stayed during the storm assure anyone who will listen that they won’t be staying again.

“I’m hoping that people will listen when they’re told just how important it is that they evacuate when the time comes,” she said. “There are nights I don’t sleep worrying about people who refuse to leave. I’m scared to death that when we come back after the storm, we’ll find out that those people didn’t make it through.”