NUECES COUNTY, Texas — From the very beginning, officials with Nueces County and Corpus Christi had been watching Beryl closely.
They did not let their guard down even as the storm moved away from our area. While officials said it is a relief to see Corpus Christi will not get the worst of the storm, they said they are ready to respond to what could come.
Officials said planning for Beryl is a public-safety centered issue, and gave us more insight into what their preparations looked like if we had been in Beryl's direct path.
"We were very cautiously watching this and thinking that, you know, we could have a very, very bad situation on our hands," said Nueces County Judge Connie Scott. "We make the best decisions that we can with the information that we are given."
As Nueces County prepared for Beryl, Scott issued a mandatory evacuation order Saturday for coastal-area visitors. She said that was important, since thousands of people were in the area celebrating the Fourth of July through the weekend.
She lived in Port Aransas during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and said that gives her a new perspective on the importance of planning for a storm.
"Some of our visitors that don't live on the coastline maybe don't, and may feel a little offended that we had to do the order that we did, but we have lived this, and we know how much that weather can change," Scott said.
The mandatory evacuation order for visitors is planned to be lifted by 8 a.m. Monday.
Corpus Christi Emergency Management Coordinator Jace Johnson said the city tracked Beryl with the National Weather Service. They activated the city's response plans and Emergency Operations Center earlier last week.
"(We) made sure that, you know, our resources were secure, and we were ready to respond and support the public and the businesses in the city throughout the storm," he said.
Johnson said Beryl is an example of what could come during this hurricane season and they plan to remain ready.
"We want to make sure that, until the storm's done, that as a city we are always prepared to go no matter what Mother Nature throws at us,"he said.
Johnson and Scott both talked about how Beryl can prepare them for emergency response to future storms.