Victoria County Emergency Operations Center

Faced with a structurally unsound and aging facility, the City and County of Victoria resolved to replace their existing Emergency Operations Center.

Living along the Texas Gulf Coast, cities and counties are keenly aware of the seasonal threat of hurricanes and the communication disruptions they impose. After Hurricane Ike hit the upper Texas Gulf Coast in 2008, many coastal communities began to re-evaluate the physical strength of their emergency operations facilities.

Securing grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, the City of Victoria’s Commissioners Court voted unanimously to finish out the basement of the courthouse annex as their new Emergency Operations Center.

As a mission critical center for both the City and the County, the Emergency Operations Center was designed to be self-supporting during a disaster with its own critical server rooms, power generation, water, food and multipurpose areas. The hardened building can withstand Category 5 hurricanes with 170 mile/hour sustained winds and is protected with state-of-the-art security, audio-visual and information technology systems.