Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Weslaco, school district agree to joint hurricane-preparedness steps, set June 18 stakeholders meeting
Summary
City and Weslaco ISD officials at a June 5 workshop outlined coordinated hurricane preparedness — including sheltering, sandbag distribution and evacuation plans — and set a stakeholder meeting for June 18 to align Red Cross, utilities and transportation partners.
City of Weslaco leaders and Weslaco Independent School District officials used a June 5 workshop to spell out shared steps for hurricane season and broader emergency preparedness, with the fire chief and emergency manager saying schools will play a key role in sheltering, evacuation and neighborhood assistance.
Mayor (presiding) opened the workshop by saying the meeting’s purpose was to coordinate city, district and Precinct 1 efforts. Antonio Lopez, the city’s fire chief and emergency manager, described the existing shelter network and MOUs with the Red Cross, naming First Baptist Church, Sam Houston and other school sites as certified options. “It’s not just hurricane season, it’s year round. An all hazard, approach to everything that we do,” Lopez said.
Lopez told the group the city has identified a set of shelters and escalation triggers: recent planning assumes First Baptist Church could accommodate roughly 150–200 people before spillover is needed; in 2018 about 400 people sheltered across sites during a larger event. He said the city maintains links with Hidalgo County emergency management and state officials to request resources if a prolonged event requires federal or state assistance.
City staff outlined sandbag plans and asked the district to help identify elderly or disabled families who need priority delivery. The city said it maintains a sand supply and will pre‑fill bags ahead of storms; distribution priority will be elderly residents and people with disabilities, with the possibility of targeted delivery to households identified by school staff.
Officials scheduled a June 18 stakeholder meeting — described as a morning of networking and a briefing on what the city will do to prepare for hurricane season — and said invitations will include utility and transportation partners to coordinate evacuations, shelter power (generators) and feeding or water distribution.
Participants agreed to follow up on logistics: the district will confirm which school campuses are certified shelters, the city will update MOUs and the two agencies will share contact points for rapid coordination. The mayor and district board president also asked staff to keep each other informed about shelters, sandbag staging and evacuation arrangements ahead of the summer season.
The workshop ended without formal votes; officials said they would continue coordination through staff contacts and the planned June 18 stakeholders meeting.
