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Law allows forced evacuations
Published July 28, 2009
ANGLETON — A new state law will allow police to arrest people who refuse to obey mandatory evacuation orders, but that law might be sparingly used in Brazoria County.
Authored by state Rep. Frank Corte Jr. (R-San Antonio), House Bill 1831 was passed this year and goes into effect Sept. 1.
An amendment placed in the Senate gives county judges and mayors the power to authorize use of “reasonable force” to remove people from the area in the event of hurricanes, fires or floods, Brazoria County Emergency Management Coordinator Kenneth “Doc” Adams said.
The measure is not about forcing people from their homes but safety for first-responders, said state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton.
“This does not create a situation where the county judge or mayor go through neighborhoods putting people on buses and shipping them out of town,” Bonnen said. “This is for heinous situations where people have refused to heed the numerous requests for evacuation and put first responders in serious danger. That in turn makes a much more expensive evacuation and costs taxpayers a significant amount of money.
“People can stay if they want, but they have to decide if it’s worth it for them to foot the bill to rescue them,” Bonnen said.
While the law allows forcible evacuation, it does not mandate it, Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner said.
“It says we ‘may’ compel someone to leave,” Wagner said. “It doesn’t say ‘shall’ or ‘must.’ We’re not going to drag anybody out of their homes if they don’t want to leave during a storm. We might try to reason with them that they really need to leave.”
Until now, authorities could not force people to evacuate, only warn them of the danger, and that they’d have no emergency services if they stayed. The part of the law forcing removal likely will be sparingly used here, Brazoria County Judge E.J. “Joe” King said.
“I don’t think it’s worth fighting somebody to forcibly remove them from their homes,” King said. “We’ve had people stay when evacuations have been called for as long as I can remember, and I’m sure there will be some more stay.
“I can’t see sending a deputy to physically remove somebody, but I’d have to wait and see what the circumstances are,” King said.”
King said he’d consider sending in police if a parent tried to keep children from evacuating.
Also under the new law, officials can bill people for resources used to get them out, Adams said.
“They can be billed for the cost to come rescue them only if we’ve declared a mandatory evacuation and they did not leave,” Adams said.
Having a way to recoup some cost could be a good idea, King said.
“If somebody says they’re going to stay and then call us to come get them when it gets bad, they ought to pay a fee,” King said. “But as far as forcing them to leave, you do still have a few rights left in this country. This statute — I doubt it will be used very often.”
Freeport Mayor Larry McDonald said he would be hesitant to order a healthy person out of their home but would use the new rule for elderly or ill people who might not be strong enough to survive a disaster.
“I really don’t like to remove someone from their home,” McDonald said. “If it’s someone who really needs to go, I’d have to look at the circumstances. I wouldn’t have a problem allowing a healthy person to stay.”
Billing for emergency services could be a punitive measure, but McDonald said he might not enforce that part of the law, either.
“It’s kind of good and kind of bad,” he said. “You can recover some of the money you’re out of pocket, but I think it’s our responsibility to do our best to get people out of harm’s way no matter what the circumstance is.”
Surfside Beach Fire Chief Pete David said forcible evacuation of his island city would keep residents and first responders more safe. David would have no say in when or if people would be told to leave, but massive storms like Hurricane Ike, which slammed into the Texas coast in September, plainly show the danger of staying.
“I think people have seen they need to leave,” David said. “When people stay, it puts us and them in harm’s way getting them out of here.”
Whether cities or the county choose to bill someone is up to that jurisdiction, Wagner said. Fines or not, if someone calls for help during the peak of a storm, they probably won’t get it.
“If they choose to stay, they need to know that when they call us during the middle of the storm, we’re not going to come down and get them out,” Wagner said. “I will not put my people in danger to rescue people who had ample opportunity and plenty of warning to get out.
“If they want to stay in a house without electricity, surrounded by rattlesnakes, water and everything else, more power to them,” Wagner said.
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