City of Temple officials were planning for anticipated Hurricane Ike evacuees Wednesday, but also planning for their own residents in the face of what could still be a significant storm nearly 300 miles inland.

City officials, who will man Temple’s emergency operations center in the municipal building, met multiple times Wednesday to discuss the city’s role in sheltering special needs evacuees from Brazoria County in the former police building.

They also discussed the city’s preparations for possible local damage when the expected remnants of Ike get here.

City Manager David Blackburn told city staff members during one planning meeting that the storm, if it lives up to predictions, could result in significant rain and wind damage in Central Texas, and could trigger activation of the city’s emergency operations center in 36 to 72 hours.

It is expected to make landfall on the Texas coast early Saturday.

“If we get 4 to 8 inches of rain in a 12-hour window, that would create a significant event for us in terms of flooding,” he said. “The winds, if they are 40 to 50 (mph) sustained and 60 and up gusts, that’s going to create (problems) for us also.”

Bruce Butscher, public works director, said the department will have 4,000 sandbags - all the city has in stock - ready to go and is finding sources for more.

“Drainage crews will be cleaning culverts and cleaning drains,” he said. “We’re going to set up for 72 hours of continuous operation. We’re going to make sure everything has gas in it.”

He said the department would be prepared to react to areas prone to flooding. The department will also pre-position barricades in low-lying areas.

Possible heavy winds could cause widespread power outages as well, according to officials.

City staff members said that in the event of power outages, generators back up essential facilities.

Those areas include fire stations, the new police department, the old police building, the emergency operations center and computer system in city hall and Wilson Recreation Center (where evacuees have been housed in the past.)

The city is installing generators in the city’s water treatment plants, Butscher said.

Blackburn said the city is taking measures to protect those facilities near Belton off Charter Oaks Drive.

“We are going to take a look at what we can do to harden those facilities … from the known elements that we are aware of right now, which is a lot of rain and a lot of wind,” he said.

Those measures could include sandbags or possibly boarding up windows.

He added that in the event of power outages, the city would rely on power providers.

“We are still very reliant on our electric provider (Oncor Electric Delivery) if that power goes out,” Blackburn said.

John Toone, area manager for Oncor, confirmed that major city facilities such as water plants are a priority for the company when it comes to restoring power.

“In every storm we have the same priorities, such as hospitals, sewage treatment plants, lift stations, fresh water plants,” he said. “The next level of priority is where we can fix something and get a large number of customers on power.”

He said that on Wednesday the company was considering using sites in Temple and Killeen for major staging areas holding equipment such as poles, cross arms and spools of wire for use after the storm passes.