City of Galveston

Everbridge helps the City of Galveston keep residents safe and informed before, during and after Hurricane Ike.

Located on the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles South of Houston, Galveston Island is one of the most popular beach destinations in Texas. With a population of nearly 60,000, Galveston is known as the location of the landmark tragedy, the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which resulted in more than 6,000 fatalities. Following the deadliest natural disaster in this nation’s history, the city built the famous 10-mile long, 17-foot high seawall for protection from future hurricane storm surges.

Challenge

On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike, the third most destructive hurricane to hit the U.S., made landfall on Galveston Island. Hurricane Ike is blamed for 82 deaths in the U.S.—200 victims are still unaccounted for—and caused more than $27 billion in estimated financial damages. With limited roadway access points exiting the island, the evacuation posed obvious challenges. Because emergency officials had used a notification system with limited functionality in the past, they recognized the need for a faster, reliable and more efficient way to communicate emergency information to residents and businesses during a crisis.

Solution

Prior to implementing Everbridge, the City of Galveston’s primary emergency communication tool was an inefficient and unreliable call-tree notification system that was prone to vulnerabilities such as missed messages and single point of failure. After carefully evaluating several ENS providers, Galveston selected Everbridge Aware mass notification system for its robust and reliable emergency communication platform. In addition, the City needed a service that supported multiple communication channels, which enabled recipients to receive emergency messages across numerous devices in the event of power loss.

“The city wanted a faster, more efficient way to communicate news to our residents. Primarily, we were looking for technology that would allow us to rapidly communicate emergency information with our residents and business owners,” said Alicia Cahill, Public Information Officer, City of Galveston. “Everbridge system provides the performance, reliability, speed, and ease-of-use we need to keep our residents informed before, during and after an emergency.”

Results

Throughout Hurricane Ike, Galveston used Everbridge Aware system to alert and update its residents, emergency personnel and key officials about evacuations, road closures and deployments. Officials used the platform’s voice and text message capabilities to mobilize staff and deliver essential public safety information—including hurricane warnings, evacuation orders and reentry instructions—to its residents and businesses.

“Living on the coast, hurricane evacuations are a matter of life and death. Everbridge Aware system allowed us to quickly contact thousands of residents who were affected by Hurricane Ike. Rapidly communicating warnings and mandatory evacuation orders within minutes was critical for public safety as Hurricane Ike approached Galveston Island.”
— Alicia Cahill, Public Information Officer, City of Galveston

Everbridge Aware system enabled Galveston to successfully execute its emergency response plan during Hurricane Ike by providing:

• Immediate emergency notification
  With real-time reporting of message delivery and receipt confirmation, emergency managers in Galveston were able to verify the safety of residents in a quick and efficient manner.
• Improved response capability
  Leveraging Everbridge Aware, Galveston sent emergency messages via multiple contact paths and confirmed message receipt, which accelerated the ability to reach mass numbers of people successfully; the platform’s built-in notification tools were an absolute necessity for delivering potentially life-saving information quickly.
• Geographically targeted notifications
  To prevent alerting non-impacted residents, the City used Everbridge’s GIS tool to accurately target specific areas (by zip code, street address or radius) and notify residents with updated information, allowing first responders to focus on other on mission-critical tasks.

Everbridge Aware in Action

Government organizations and enterprises alike have embraced emergency notification system (ENS) technologies and have included them as a necessity in their overall communications and emergency response strategies. ENS applications are no longer a “nice to have,” they are an indispensable tool for emergency communications.

In a recently published market study from Forrester Research and the Disaster Recovery Journal, 93 percent of respondents either currently include emergency communication in their business continuity plans or intend to update their plans to include it in the next 12 months. (The State of Business Continuity Preparedness, Disaster Recovery Journal and Forrester Research, Inc., January 2009.)

“As the severity of Hurricane Ike’s imminent danger became clear, Everbridge Aware system allowed us to notify all of the affected residents and business owners about the storm’s projected path and deliver potentially lifesaving information within minutes.”
— Alicia Cahill, Public Information Officer, City of Galveston