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CA NEWS

   Water Matters                            Sun City Texas EMC Evacuation Exercise
Town Hall - new date!                       to take place March 9

Friday, March 10, 9 a.m., SCB               Submitted by Sandy Kienitz, Emergency Management Committee
Submitted by Carlton M. Mathis,
Common Area and Irrigation                                       The Sun City Texas      Volunteers operating the facilities are
Superintendent                                                   Emergency Manage-       EMC members, volunteers serving on the
                                                                 ment Committee          Resident Education Subcommittee, Sun
The next Central Texas drought al-                               (EMC) conducts a        City Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) vol-
ways seems to be just around the cor-                            community evacuation    unteers, COPs volunteers and a variety of
ner. Please join us Friday, March 10 at     exercise each year. The purpose of the       volunteers from other organizations in Sun
9 a.m. in the Social Center Ballroom        exercise is to determine how effective our   City Texas. City of Georgetown Emergency
where we will address these concerns on     trained volunteers can staff, set up and     Management Coordinator Chad Berg will
a local level and discuss Sun City Texas’   execute a resident evacuation resulting      participate as an observer and evaluate
community goals and objectives for 2017.    from a multitude of crises that may oc-      the exercise upon completion.
Remember: there are a number of ways        cur. There are four facilities available
to save water and help the environment,     to provide services to evacuees need-        To make the exercise as realistic as pos-
and they all start with you! We hope to     ing shelter: the Social Center Ballroom,     sible, resident evacuee volunteers will be
see you there.                              the Activities Center, the Cowan Creek       needed. Residents willing to assist in this
                                            Amenity Center and The Worship Place         effort will role play evacuees requiring
 Water Matters                              on Sun City Boulevard.                       medical treatment for injuries, evacuees
                                                                                         with pets in need of shelter and residents
  Submitted by Carlton M. Mathis,           The primary facility is the ballroom, as     who simply need shelter for a limited pe-
  Common Area and                           it is the only facility having an emergen-   riod of time. It should be understood that
  Irrigation Superintendent                 cy power generator. The ballroom and         in a genuine crisis situation, all facilities
                                            surrounding areas are organized and          are available for a limited period of time.
                           This winter      partitioned to provide space for evacuee     None of the facilities are set up to accom-
                           has seen a       registration, evacuees with pets and/or      modate overnight stays.
                           wide range of    in need of shelter, an Incident Command
                           temperatures,    Center, minor first aid treatment and the    Each year the exercise is conducted, vol-
                           but even with a  press and media. The Activities Center       unteers improve in their efficiency and
                           few days below   serves as the primary first aid station      base of knowledge. At the conclusion of the
                           freezing and a   offering basic first aid treatment and tri-  exercise, an outgoing brief is conducted to
   handful of rain events the moisture      age services for patients who may require    allow for an exchange of ideas, review of
   levels in our soil have held up quite    transfer to medical facilities. The Cowan    operations and update of procedures and
   well. Irrigation systems should have     Creek Amenity Center meeting rooms and       protocols. The exercise this year will be
   been left off during this weather,       entryways are set up to receive and regis-   conducted on Thursday, March 9 from 8
   however I did see a couple of “ice       ter evacuees and provide designated areas    a.m. to noon. Volunteers working at the So-
   gardens” in the community during         for evacuees and basic first aid services.   cial Center Ballroom, Cowan Creek Ame-
   those freezing days.                     If need be, The Worship Place is available   nity Center and the Activities Center will
   March is the month to consider           to residents; however, this facility would   be readily identifiable wearing emergency
   turning on irrigation systems.           be limited to providing space for evacuees   vests of various colors. We ask residents
   Temperatures are warming up              in need of shelter – other services would    utilizing these facilities be considerate of
   quickly and plants are starting to       most likely not be available.                the volunteers and defer to them as appro-
   wake from their winter slumber. If                                                    priate to help ensure a successful exercise.
   rain events are scarce, a once-per-
   week watering schedule should be         Golf carts and grandkids: Say NO!
   sufficient.
                                            Many grandchildren will be in our com-       one under the age of 16 and/or anyone
                                            munity for the spring break holiday,         without a driver’s license to drive a golf
                                            and there will be a temptation to allow      cart. Please, DO NOT let grandkids get
                                            them to drive a golf cart. It is against     behind the wheel; Georgetown police of-
                                            the law and extremely dangerous for any-     ficers may issue you a ticket.

12 | SUNRAYS MARCH 2017                                                                  ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
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