Austin's third worst storm

Selena Xie, paramedic and erstwhile president of the Austin EMS Association, sent me the photo above of a flooded area at Spicewood Springs Rd. To the left is a black sedan that has gotten stuck.

Says Xie:

"I was responding to a call and found this car trapped in the water with people waving at me. I tried to call for resources but basically they were all out on calls and Communications couldn’t even pay attention because they’re so task saturated –– but an Austin Energy truck drove by and asked if I needed anything and I directed them over. We got them out safely. It was such an intense night."

Figuring out which calls to respond to first is a major challenge during extreme weather events. There are those who are those who are facing direct threats from the storm –– falling trees, flooding etc –– but there are also thousands of medically vulnerable people who have lost power or are at risk of losing power.

"All night we were dealing with calls from people who have durable medical equipment and because their oxygen concentrator wasn't working or their wheelchairs weren’t charging they needed to rely on EMS," Xie told me.

Xie suspects far more people should be enrolled in Austin Energy's medically vulnerable registry, which offers "personalized emergency backup plans" for power or water outages to those who meet a number of medical criteria.

"What’s disappointing to me is how many people still are not on the emergency registry," she said, "and so they are not able to get the help they need until they are very sick or desperate."

A report from the City Auditor last year said that many people found it hard to sign up for the registry. About 70% of applicants in one year were denied due to improper documentation and many others likely failed to renew their enrollment due to similar issues. The mere fact that enrollment in a growing city would plummet from one year to the next, as happened in 2018-19, is troubling.