Teamwork, Planning and Action Help Institutions Ride Out Allison

Outside, the rain fell in relentless sheets, overflowing bayous, flooding streets and highways in the Texas Medical Center area.

Inside, Texas Medical Center institutions sprang into action to guard against potential flooding and the devastation that accompanies unprecedented amounts of rain. Doctors, maintenance and food service employees, allied health professionals, nurses, volunteers, engineers, and patients and their families prepared for the worst and hoped for the best.

But the storm had other plans. From midnight to 2 a.m., 8.5 inches of rain fell on the already saturated Texas Medical Center area. By 3 a.m., the rainfall gauge at nearby Rice University had recorded more than 10 inches of rain. All told, Allison dumped 12 to 15 inches of rain on the Texas Medical Center in a 9-hour period.

In Allison's wake, many TMC institutions were left without power - no air conditioning, lights or phones, no kitchen appliances with which to prepare food, and most importantly, no power to run critical life-support systems. Eight area hospitals declared internal disasters. When all was said and done, Allison was declared the worst flood in the history of the Texas Medical Center.

But through it all, patient care was never compromised, thanks to the majestic efforts of employees at TMC institutions. Losses, while significant, could have been more extensive.

This issue of the TMC News takes an inside look at each institution's account of Tropical Storm Allison.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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