Published: September 02, 2008 02:39 am         

Special Web page created for hurricane information

PALESTINE — While others were busy preparing for evacuees to arrive, Ken Woods stayed at his computer.

Woods, the information technology director for Anderson County, created “Project Gustav,” a page filled with emergency information and links pertaining to Hurricane Gustav and added to the county’s Web site, www.co.anderson.tx.us, at the request of county emergency officials.

On the “Project Gustav” page, visitors can find a scrolling weather advisory from the National Weather Service, a statement advising that no evacuations have been called for in the county, contact numbers for Anderson County assistant emergency management coordinator Schelby Wells and City of Palestine EMC Randal Shoulders and links to FEMA’s list of basic disaster supplies, NOAA satellite images of the Gulf of Mexico, the Anderson County Medical Reserve Board and Ready.gov.

“It’s not intended to be anything fancy,” Woods said Monday afternoon inside the emergency operations center at the Anderson County Courthouse Annex. “It’s just a real simple thing.”

Because the “Project Gustav” page itself only contains text displayed by HTML coding, people with Internet phones should be able to access the information.

“It gives them something they can hit from basically anywhere,” Woods said. “It’s straight HTML. Anybody who’s got a Web-enabled phone would be able to see it.”

Having the information available on the county’s Web page has been helpful in providing answers to the kinds of questions local residents had, Shoulders said.

“It’s kind of a no-brainer if they’re here from another location to direct them to the shelter,” Shoulders said.

As information becomes available, Woods uploads it to the “Project Gustav” page in an effort to remain as timely as possible.

“I’m changing it on the fly, as we go,” Woods said. “What I’ve tried to do is leave it very, very simple so that I can make changes to it, add things and delete things. The more complex you make the page, the harder it is to do updates.”

“Project Gustav” will be removed from the site once its purpose is served, he said.

The link for “Project Gustav” is located on the left side of the Anderson County official home page.

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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

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On the Net:

Anderson County official Web site, http://www.co.anderson.tx.us

     

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