Officials say it is useful to sign up before the new hurricane season starts on June 1st

The Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is encouraging county residents to register with a program that can help them if they need to be evacuated during emergencies or natural disasters, such as hurricanes.

The program is called State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry (STEAR) and county officials said it is useful for residents to register before the new Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1st.

The people who can register with the STEAR program are those have a disability, limited mobility or communication barriers.

Additionally, people who require additional medical assistance during emergency events, or who need transportation, or personal care assistance are also encouraged to register.

The people who register with the program have to provide their name, address, phone number and primary language.

“We’ll know where you are, any kind of special conditions that you have that we should be planning for and, so, we can take that all into account when we have to have an evacuation for a hurricane,” explained Francisco Sanchez, Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator at the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Some additional information that people who register might have to provide is an emergency contact, whether or not the person has a caregiver and information about pets.

Registering with the STEAR program has to be done on an annual basis and Sanchez underlined in that regard “it’s something that should be a part of your regular hurricane season planning.”

You can register with the program by visiting its website and also by calling 2-1-1.

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