Concerns and Communication: Rep. Raul Ruiz Talks About What to Expect as Tropical Storm Hilary Arrives

Earlier today (Sunday, Aug. 20), the Independent spoke to Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz, who represents California’s 25th Congressional District, which includes much of the central and eastern portions of the Coachella Valley.

He talked about his concerns as Tropical Storm Hilary arrives, and what residents can expect in the aftermath.

At this point on Sunday morning, what are your greatest concerns?

My greatest concerns are with the most vulnerable populations, and that includes those who live in inadequate shelter with a lack of infrastructure to help prevent flooding or to protect households from the winds that are coming. We know that there are scattered communities—whether in trailer parks or in impoverished neighborhoods—that live in substandard housing, where high winds can cause a lot of damage, and there are no streets and drainage that could allow access for vehicles to go in and out.

In addition to them, the unhoused population really concerns me, because they essentially have very little resources to protect themselves from the rain and the winds.

Your office announced via press release that you’re asking President Biden to declare a federal state of emergency for Southern California. What should Coachella Valley residents know about potential governmental assistance, and how or where they can access help during the storm or after the storm, in term of repairs and clean up?

It all starts local. Imperial County, as well as the city of El Centro and other local municipalities, have declared a state of emergency. That signals to the state of California that they will need assistance, not just to mitigate, but to repair the damage. Gov. Newsom, in turn yesterday, issued a declaration of an emergency, which now opens up the opportunity for federal resources when President Biden declares an emergency for Southern California. The resources trickle down into our local counties for the Emergency Management Department, and they coordinate with FEMA at the state and national level, in order to do the mitigation and the rescues during the storm. There is strong local, state and federal coordination with data, with first responders.

In addition to that, once the storm is over, and we need to rebuild, and we need assets on the ground, those assets come from local, state and federal partners, and the federal government will then fund the state, and the state will then fund the local counties and municipalities. So at the local level, resources will be flowing through the county and the state from the federal government.

If during the storm, a resident feels they’re in an emergency situation, they call 911, right?

Yes, it’s 911; first is always 911. Anytime they feel that their life is in danger, dial 911. On the rivcoready.org website, there are phone numbers there to call for updates in terms of evacuation orders. It’s important not to be in a position that is life-threatening to begin with, and to take this storm and the winds seriously, because once your life is in danger, then another life is in danger for the mere fact that (a first responder) will have to go in and help rescue you. That’s why we’re urging the public to take all necessary precautions and to not hesitate to evacuate. If they feel vulnerable for mobility issues, age or lack of shelter capacity in their home, then (they need to) find locations where they can temporarily weather the storm.

In light of your medical expertise and trauma treatment experience, are there any health advisories or warnings that you’d like to share with our readers to help keep them from physical harm?

There are a couple of potential serious barriers for people with chronic illness. One is that the electricity may go out. That means that people who utilize breathing machines, or who require refrigerated medications like insulin, or any apparatus that requires electricity should be fully charged (if possible), and backup generators should be readied, in addition to even potentially making sure you have enough ice in your ice chest, so if the power does go out, you can put some valuable, necessary medications in an ice chest.

The second biggest barrier in these scenarios is going to be transportation. If you feel you may need medical care because of a chronic illness, then have a plan; have transportation routes; but most importantly, if you know live in an area where transportation will be difficult, then now is the time, before the storm, to seek a place where people can come and attend to you a lot easier.

The other thing, quite frankly, that is important is communicating. Make sure, because of the potential of a power outage, that people have backup batteries for their cell phones in order to communicate with 911 or relatives, if needed.

This history-making tropical storm is the latest in a chain of natural disasters which scientists, in some fashion, are linking to the multiplying impacts of climate change. Whether it’s floods in Alaska or the Northeast, the brutal storms in the South and the Midwest, the fatal heat waves, or the massive firestorm on Maui, it appears obvious that the climate is getting more extreme and threatening. How can the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate can best facilitate the mitigation and, hopefully, the reversal of the impacts of climate change?

There are two categories that we focus on. One is prevention, and two is mitigation. Last Congress, the House and Senate, with President Biden, made historic, historic investments in addressing prevention and mitigation.

By prevention, I mean ensuring that we decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and move toward cleaner renewable energy, not only in electric vehicles’ production and usage, but also in different industries like manufacturing and private industry.

Second, in terms of mitigation, is to build for the future … to build strong components (meant to deal with) the expected, extreme weather into the development of infrastructure, to make (infrastructure) as resilient as possible. Both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act have historic investments to help produce our electric vehicles, our battery storage, and transform our economy from a fossil-fuel-dependent economy to a renewable, cleaner-energy economy. There are hundreds of millions of dollars invested in different components of what it would take to make sure that our electric grids are resilient, and that we have battery storage, so that when we generate the energy from solar or wind, that it can be used all day, year-round. We can prepare for increased usage of electricity, due to the heat and the use of air conditioning, and make our streets and bridges fortified for high winds and tornadoes, and start to address some of the extremes, in terms of lack of water and drought, that we’re also going to see due to climate change.

Now, all of that is in jeopardy, because now that the Republicans have the House majority, they have attempted to cut the funding and to repeal components of both the Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, and yeah, it’s a shame.