SOUTH PADRE ISLAND – South Padre Island city officials are breathing a sigh of relief. They said Harvey had a small impact on the island.

The city said their years of planning for a tropical storm or hurricane paid off.

"This city has been planning for a bad weather event for years," says Doug Fowler, South Padre Island Fire Chief/Emergency management coordinator.

Fowler said collaboration and communication was key in executing the city's emergency weather plans. He said communication played an even bigger role in getting the word out to residents.

Swift 911 helped in that outreach. Fowler said nearly 3,500 people signed up for alerts.

He said the only hiccup came between DPS and the city with regards to closing the Queen Isabella Causeway.

"The Department of Public Safety – their interpretation of closing the causeway is different than ours, at least it was for this past weekend,” he said. “And as we were working through that communication, we just found that their understanding was different than ours."

Fowler said the hiccup said was short-lived.

Now that the threat of Harvey to the Rio Grande Valley is over, he said it should serve as an eye-opener for the public.

"If this storm came into this community, was I prepared to take everything I needed and to protect my family and get to some place safe?" he said.

Fowler urges everyone to create emergency kits before the next severe weather event makes its way to the Valley again.

City officials are still going through data to create after-action reports. Those should be ready in a few weeks.

Downed fences, signs and beach erosion are the only signs of damage on the island. How much beach erosion there is, is still being calculated.