国际英语新闻:Spotlight: U.S. needs to improve emergency preparedness system: expert

HOUSTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- In the aftermath of tropical storm Harvey, expert believe there is a long way to go to improve emergency preparedness system in the United States.

Category four Hurricane Harvey made a landfall along the coast of Gulf of Mexico. The storm brought uNPRecedented rainfall to the greater Houston area in south U.S., killing dozens of people. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said damage by Hurricane Harvey would reach 150 billion to 180 billion U.S. dollars.

During an exclusive interview by Xinhua, Jim Blackburn, co-director of Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation Center from Disasters in Rice University, said the disaster showed there is a lot to improve the emergency preparedness system in the U.S.

"We have a long way to go in emergency preparedness system. There's a much better warning system that we could have. In fact it would be very easy to have."

According to him, the flood-alert system in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) in Houston sets a good example for the entire country.

Designed by Rice University civil engineering professor Philip Bedient and other experts, the Flood Alert System - now in its third version - uses radar, rain gauges, cameras and modeling to indicate whether Houston's Brays Bayou is at risk of overflowing and flooding the TMC. The system can predict maximum flooding conditions two to three hours ahead of time and track rain totals more accurately than radar alone.

The lead time was crucial, said TMC's President and CEO Bill McKeon. It allowed the hospitals to shut their floodgates and evacuate basement garages before the flood hit.

In the end, the only damage the hospital sustained was downed trees and leaky roofs, McKeon said.

This was not the first time the system worked well. When Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston in 2001, the system gave accurate predictions. During the past two decades, it has been upgraded from the first version to the third and monitored more than 150 storms.

In an interview with local newspaper in 2015, Bedient said the existing National Weather Service only issues warning by county which is too general, while the TMC Flood Warning System is designed to provide its users more specific flood warnings by monitoring key watersheds. Moreover, the system is interactive and provides real time updates every five minutes.

Blackburn believed the flood alert system in TMC should be widely used in the country. "It tells them when they need to deploy their flood gates that they have, it tells them when to tell their employees not to come in, and when to shut down for business. We need that for the entire county," he said.

During and after the flood disaster, hurricane victims criticized the authorities of fragmented information. Flood alerts were given in the state, county and city levels. People complained about overwhelming, sometimes confusing or even conflicting information on social media.

Blackburn agreed that there needs to be more government involvement in dealing with disasters than there used to be. Although against local political culture, he admitted an authoritative central source is needed in the future crisis management.

"That's part of the change we need to implement. I think Texans like a less authoritative government. But in something like this we need to be authoritarian," he commented. "I think you'll see that in the future. It was certainly a legitimate criticism of this storm."

As the fourth largest metropolitan in the U.S., Houston is famous for its tolerance, welcoming immigrants from all over the country and the world.

However, there's not good information for someone on how to survive a Houston flood. There's not an official document like that. There should be. We can help people a lot more than we do, Blackburn said.

He said it's time for the authorities to put people's need ahead of economic development of the city.

"I think it's really about putting people first. Houston has often put development and economic growth ahead of the people that are here. And I think that is something that will also change," Blackburn concluded.