ARLINGTON, Va. (08/04/2008) - Up to 1,200 National Guard Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen stood ready as Tropical Storm Edouard approached Texas on Monday.
With about 1,000 Guardmembers serving overseas, the Texas National Guard had more than 20,000 troops to draw from in the state, Maj. Gen. Charles Rodriguez, the adjutant general, told Fox News.
"We have plenty of folks to help," Rodriguez said. "It's just a matter of responding appropriately."
Residents should have food, water, prescribed medications and ice stocked in advance of the approaching storm, Rodriguez said.
The Texas National Guard was requesting Air medical evacuation teams from other states in case any coastal medical facilities had to be evacuated, National Guard Bureau officials reported.
"We are being assisted by our Air National Guard in Delaware, Mississippi and West Virginia," said Army Col. Bill Meehan, public affairs officer for the Texas National Guard.
Tropical Storm Edouard came in the wake of July's Hurricane Dolly. More than 890 members of the Texas National Guard, numerous land vehicles, seven helicopters and an RC-26 surveillance aircraft helped with transportation, distribution of supplies and search and rescue after Hurricane Dolly in an operation that ended Sunday.
But Meehan said troops are more than ready for another storm.
"Morale is always high in Texas," Meehan said. "We look forward to serving the citizens of Texas and always have and always will. When they need us, we will be there."
Among likely missions in the wake of Edouard: "We would anticipate operating points of distribution, shelter, communications, logistics, transportation of food, water and ice and medical care," Meehan said. "We will assist with damage assessment."
The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning. Late Monday morning, Edouard was about 160 miles south-southwest of Lafayette, La., and moving west at about 8 MPH, the weather service reported.
The center of the storm was expected to be off the coast of southwest Louisiana or near the upper Texas coast by Tuesday morning, the weather service stated.
A storm surge and heavy rain - up to 10 inches in Texas - were both predicted. The storm could be a near-hurricane by the time it makes landfall and might spawn tornadoes, the National Hurricane Center reported.