Being prepared: Officials developing plan for better response to next disaster

Be prepared. The Boy Scouts' mantra may sound a bit clichéd.

But Jackson County officials say last year's near-record flooding of the East Fork of the White River opened the eyes of many to the importance of being prepared for any natural disaster.

Some say there's evidence that being prepared helped reduce damage and losses during the June 8, 2008, flood that caused damage to nearly 300 homes across the county.

Most losses were in the Medora area as the river crested at 20.92 feet, just shy of the record 21 feet recorded March 26, 1913.

"What worked last summer was that all the years of planning for community elected and appointed officials to come together to decide how to respond," Duane Davis of the Jackson County Emergency Planning Office said. "Did everything work 100 percent? No, but they had a starting point."

Moving first responders, Red Cross and other relief agencies closer to that 100 percent success rate is the goal of a local long-term recovery committee, Tonja Couch of Jackson County United Way added. She's coordinating the long-term recovery effort.

"We weren't prepared," Couch said. "We had never had a cross-sector with community volunteers, governmental agencies and nonprofit sectors that provide those human service needs at a table together, which is what you need for dealing with the long-term recovery of a community."

Couch became involved with the recovery effort and future planning program "once United Way realized that piece of the puzzle wasn't in place," she said.

"We brought people together and got them talking," Couch added. "If it wasn't hearing directly from the Red Cross or the people in Medora saying, ‘hey, we need help,' the work wouldn't have gotten done."

Couch stressed that Jackson County Chapter of the American Red Cross and other community groups such as the Medora Lions Club "stepped up to the plate as the disaster was happening and in the immediate follow-up."

"What was not included is what happens in the long term," Couch said. "Especially in a flood, and even in a tornado when it wipes out a lot of homes, you have to look at the long term picture. Where are these folks going to live while their homes are being rebuilt or if they're torn down"

Part of  the planning for a long-term recovery plan includes taking a look at that need, as well as many others, Couch said.

"Think for a moment," she said. "Your whole house has been wiped away or covered in floodwaters. You need new furniture. You need a refrigerator. You need to make sure mold isn't growing in your walls or in your crawl space."

Some of those needs are immediate. Some pop up later.

"A family in Medora, for example, wasn't prepared to go to school once August rolled around," Couch said. "And they didn't have winter coats when winter came around because they were lost in the flood and no one thought about that need during the summer."

Davis said five homes in Medora were destroyed, among 286 that were considered damaged by the June 8 flooding and the September windstorm, remnants of Hurricane Ike, Couch added.

"Most were replaced by modular homes, and one still needs to be replaced," Davis said.

In all, 286 cases for losses were filed with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Couch said. All have been closed, although some minor items need to be taken care of on a few cases, Davis added.

Davis said he hopes to see "better operating procedures for an emergency operating center to ensure first responders will receive resources as they need them" come about as a result of the planning process that continues through the long-term recovery committee.

Although Davis was in Mexico on a church mission trip the week of the flooding, he kept in contact with federal, state and local officials, he said, and was aware of what was happening.

"I had good communications despite being away," Davis said. "That just shows how people coming together and working together to assess the situation and set priorities and react to those priorities we were able to prevent people from being trapped in their homes."

Seymour Mayor Craig Luedeman added, however, that communications was a problem in one sense last summer.

"One thing that didn't work that's already been corrected is that all the first responder departments weren't on the same radio, but now we are," Luedeman said. "Since then we've all upgraded to the 800 megahertz radio systems, and we can now get the message sent out to everyone."

The mishmash of radio systems last year led to confusion, Luedeman said.

"We probably evacuated some people that we maybe didn't have to," he added.

Another change that has improved communications since the flooding is creation of a Web-based information site developed by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Luedeman said.

"Last year, we knew the water was coming down from Columbus, but we didn't know how much or when," he said. "This new system allows better information around the state so that we can let residents know what's happening and going to be happening."

So being prepared for the long term may have been a weak point in response to last year's flooding. But what worked?

"The town of Medora just highlights community involvement," Couch said. "They said, ‘hey folks, we need sandbags,' and they had 100 people show up and got those bags made.

"The Red Cross did a great job," she added. "Its comfort station fed hundreds of volunteers as well as families affected by the flooding. They also did a good job of tracking volunteer hours to help with federal assistance."

Hundreds of volunteers also went to Medora and the northwest side of Seymour to help residents clean the muck from their flooded homes, move belongings out and help collect and distribute furniture and appliances. Some churches have adopted families to help with their ongoing needs, and much of that outreach continues.

Planning will continue to take place in an effort to be better prepared, Couch said.

"Another piece of the long-term recovery committee's future efforts is working with the Red Cross to go out to not only individual families but also small businesses to distribute preparedness information," Couch said. "If you're prepared in the winter with emergency supplies in the trunk of your car, for instance, you're going to be better off. So who's to say you shouldn't be prepared for things that might occur at home, such as a flood or a tornado?

"Do we have an emergency savings account set aside? Do we have batteries? All those things  that we know we should have but haven't taken the time to prepare," she added.
Davis agreed.

"Always be prepared," he said. "And hope that it never happens."