Since 2017, Jefferson County has been impacted by its share of disasters — Hurricane Harvey (2017), Tropical Storm Imelda (2019) Hurricanes Laura and Delta (2020), Winter Storm (2021) and Hurricane Beryl (2024). — just to name a few.
But the Jefferson County Long Term Recovery Group (JCLTRC) announced a new free phone app (Jefferson Co TX Disaster Guide) to serve residents before, during and after a disaster.
JCLTRC Recovery Director Michelle Brewer noted the organization directly serves many impacted county households, and are provided opportunities to listen to the challenges families face when trying to navigate an overwhelming amount of disaster-related information, processes and resources, during all phases of disaster.
“We used this information to develop a comprehensive, free mobile app that can be easily downloaded on Apple and Android platforms,” said Brewer. "This app contains everything a Jefferson County household may need to know before, during and after a disaster.”
Brewer said JCLTRC works with many disaster survivors (many 65 and older) who share about the challenges they faced to find timely disaster information and resources, especially after a storm, when “it's needed the most.”
“The amount of disaster-related information that circulates pre and post-disaster is overwhelming and widespread, making it difficult to know or remember where to go to find the information they need, and what sources can be trusted," she said. "We wanted to develop a platform that contained all disaster-related information in one place, eliminating the need to search multiple Facebook pages and websites to find diverse, critical information specific to the needs of each household.
According to Brewer, JCLTRC's website is hosted through WIX and in early 2023 they received information that WIX was developing a platform to create mobile apps for their business users.
“This piqued our interest,” she stated. “We don’t have a technology department but we did extensive research, talked a lot with WIX, and decided to dive in and give it our best effort.”
Brewer said they developed the app in-house then worked with a WIX specialist to help navigate the arduous tasks of registering the app with Apple and Google Play, so that it would be available through those app stores.
“That was the hardest piece of the development process. It took about six months to develop the app from start to finish,” she added.
With the app, Brewer said users can pick up their mobile device and with a single touch find any disaster-related information they may need in one single location.
“We just updated the face of the app to include the survey link that all Jefferson County households can use to report disaster damages to their home quickly,” she said. "The data they share in this survey goes directly to our county and city emergency management offices, allowing these leaders to better understand what the post-disaster needs in the community are, making it easier to request resources to aid in the recovery phase, such as roof tarping, chainsaw work, etc."
Brewer noted the app is “very user friendly” and is broken down into topics related to “Before Disaster” and “After Disaster.”
In addition to having the survey link to self-report home damages, there is a comprehensive "County Info” tab that lists all local resource information as well as county and city contacts for all of Jefferson County.
“We have a push notification feature that we used several times before, during and after Hurricane Beryl,” she said. “The push notifications go immediately into the red 'Alerts' tab on the home screen so if a user misses the notification alert, he/she will not miss the critical information contained in the push. They simply click on the red 'Alerts' tab to read the information. We also welcome feedback from our community and users that will make the app better.
Also, the app contents include a detailed preparedness supply list, how to make a home inventory video, information on home insurance, detailed community resources and contact information, evacuation routes, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Small Business Association (SBA) information, how to report disaster damages, a guide to safely muck out your home, evacuation and shelter information and more.
Brewer added interested individuals who want to download the app, can visit www.jeffersoncountylongtermrecovery. org/mobileapp.