Staff should practice emergency situations more regularly, Austin city leaders say

Austin leaders want city staff to practice emergency situations more regularly.

This comes after February's ice storm knocked out power to a third of Austin Energy customers.

Austin City Council members were briefed on emergency management plans and responses on April 11. 

Challenges during the ice storm included a lack of uniformity between different departments.

The city manager identified three areas for improvement:

  • New procedures for initiating the emergency operations center
  • Emergency communications
  • Operations and planning

As part of that, city leaders want regular inter-department coordination exercises.

For more information, click here.