Response to flooding was aided by sessions in emergency management
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
In May several Burlington city leaders joined their counterparts from throughout Racine County at a disaster-training course in Maryland.
Little did they know that two months later they’d put that training to the test in what Mayor Jeannie Hefty has termed the worst natural disaster in Racine County in 30 years.
Hefty was among the city leaders attending the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Md., for a weeklong session on setting up emergency government to handle just the sort of emergency that hammered Burlington and the surrounding area last week as nearly eight inches of rain flooded the city and knocked out power, communications and portions of the city’s transportation system.
Fire Chief Alan Babe, who shared unified incident command duties with Police Chief Mark Anderson, said the situation played out just as the tabletop simulations did in Maryland.
“Only in this case, we actually lived it out,” Babe said.
An Emergency Operations Center was established at the city fire station with representatives from several city departments as well as county, state, and federal agencies at different points.
Emergency management agencies from throughout the area and the state descended upon Burlington to assist in the effort.
That’s where the disaster training especially paid off, according to City Administrator Carina Walters.
“When you’ve got unified command, everybody has to be talking the same language,” she said. “If your not using the same language communication breaks down.”
Despite the challenges, Babe said, “We had a very coordinated effort.”
Complicating matters was the fact that floodwaters split the city in two and electronic communication took hit when water breached the city police station and destroyed electronic equipment on the lower level.
“With the city divided in two, one of the challenges is how to make sure emergency services are evenly distributed,” Anderson said.
Fire and rescue equipment was deployed at multiple sites during the height of the crisis to achieve that goal, he said.
Mayor Jeannie Hefty, who also participated in the disaster training session, said she was impressed with the local effort.
“I couldn’t even ask for more efficiency from this group,” she said. “When emergency management ops began early Thursday, we were already moving. We knew we were having issues and we had to be on top of it.”
Hefty said the professional response of the team provided a boost for her when the hours grew long and the damage mounted.
“There were days when I was down and walked into that EOC and it lifted me up,” she said.
After working around the clock for most of the first two days, Walters said the leaders at the Emergency Operations Center had to remind each other to take breaks and get some rest.
However, Babe said, resting when the adrenaline is still rushing is easier said than done.
“It’s very hard to shut it off,” he said.
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