Topic: disaster relief

The Day After: Resilient residents on the road to recovery after midnight tornadoes

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

• Red Cross scrambles to aid storm victims
• Palmyra families “lucky to be alive”
• Tornado shreds Fairgrounds Pavilion
• Massive clean-up underway across southern Montgomery County

The day after a night of storms dawned with many families still without power and emergency response teams pouring into Montgomery County to undertake the task of restoring power, removing downed trees from power lines and roadways, and setting the process of recovery in place. Weather officials estimate that four F-1 tornadoes touched down across the county, three hitting the Palmyra area. The fourth hit Clarksville. F-1s have winds ranging from 86-110 miles per hour.

No place was the pressure felt more than at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which just two weeks ago sustained a disaster of their own when an arsonist torched the agency’s Emergency Response Vehicle [ERV] filled with disaster response equipment. Faced with the devastation of a tornado, its victims, and a horde of emergency responders to assist, Red Cross volunteers rallied, utilizing many of their own resources in the first hours after the disaster. «Read the rest of this article»

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Emergency Response teams ready for Wolf Creek Dam disaster

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 17, 2007 |

Wolf Creek Dam. It’s a peaceful place in Kentucky, northeast of Nashville and the Clarksville area, and it’s a potential crisis in the making that emergency management officials are keeping their eye on. A wary eye. On the seepage, the erosion of its limestone base, and its sinkholes.

These and other factors that make Wolf Creek one of the five worst dams in the country, one with a high risk of failure. If Wolf Creek fails, parts of Clarksville will be underwater in about 33 hours.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Major Rehabilitation Report issued in 2006 recommended a $306 million fix for the Wolf Creek Dam, a project that began over a year ago and is expected to take four years to complete. (At right, workers inside the dam effecting repairs)

Failure of the Wolf Creek dam is scenario on the top of the list for Emergency Management officials at the federal, state and local levels; they meet weekly to address a multitude of issues that could affect our community at large, coordinating services and support systems for a safe and fast response if the worst should happen. «Read the rest of this article»

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