How Texas Medical Center plans to prepare for severe weather in Houston this weekend
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Texas Medical Center has flood doors, water gauges and alarms throughout the nation's leading medical complex.
They were installed after Tropical Storm Allison 19 years ago, which caused a devastating loss to facilities and medical research projects, including lab animals.
Those flood control improvements saved the center from serious flood damage during Harvey, and it's expected to do the same this weekend when the Houston area is expected to see heavy amounts of rain from a Tropical Storm in the Gulf.
"We test the flood doors and warning devices each year now at the start of hurricane season," said Claire Bassett, communications director at Baylor College of Medicine.
She said clinics will be open to its patients Friday. By Friday night, she expects a team to remain in place to monitor weather and rainfall. Texas Medical Center police will also be on duty, looking for any issues.
Each hospital and institution has the same set of flood protection devices to prevent water damage.
Street flooding during Harvey largely cut the medical center off from patients trying to get to hospitals there, as well as, medical staff trying to get to their hospitals.
In one case, a cancer patient who needed to go the emergency room at MD Anderson was taken in a flat bottom boat down Main Street and finally put on a pickup truck to make it to the hospital.
