Natural Disaster Emergency Plan

Natural Disaster Emergency Plan

Floods are arguably among the most common natural disaster in the United States. Besides, due to their extensive destructive nature, they result in over 90% of natural disaster destruction (Angel, 2017).  A survey carried out by the National Weather Service indicated that flood-related deaths exceeded 92 people each year. Hence, floods are the second most deadly after heat waveform of extreme weather. In 2019, flooding killed 91 Americans (Arrighi et al, 2019).

Flooding endangers life, in general, that is human, animal, and plants. Flooding also leads to extensive property damage and harms the environment in general. Therefore, coordinated and effective response to flooding incidents requires a well written Flooding Emergency Plan (FEP) (Webber et al., 2017). This plan was written to act as a guide and assist the community involved in dealing with the flood hazards. The plan stipulates duties for every department when do to it, where to do it and how they will do it. By use of training and guidance of this plan, the community’s fast responders can lessen the risk of danger to the public at large and themselves. Nonetheless, the plan can, in turn, lead to a decrease in the destruction of property and the environment as a whole.

The focus of this plan is on the city of Illinois. The city lies in the state of Illinois and bordering the Mississippi River. Big rainstorms hit Illinois often, the city’s sewers become overwhelmed with the water, and with nowhere else to go, the water ends up in the streets, basements, and yards. The result of such a flood can accrue to up to $2.6 billion in damages as calculated by the Illinois Department of Natural resources (Angel, 2017). Thus, a need for a flood emergency plan.

Purpose of Plan

1. The purpose of this plan is to stipulate techniques for early flood recognition and propagation of warnings that are reliable, timely, and accurate.
2. To create collective awareness of flood hazards.
3. To enable prevention of loss of life and injuries that result due to flood-related causes and flooding
4. To initiate preparedness for post-flood actions.
5. To reduce the loss of private and public property due to flooding related causes.

Situations and Assumptions

1. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has issued flood insurance maps that have been used to pinpoint all flood-prone areas, especially along the Mississippi River, inclusive of all its tributaries (Angel, 2017).
2. Severe flooding is expected the weather anytime experiences heavy snow, ice, rainfall, and ice jams.

• All units, including state or federal government, county, and city in combination or separately, are expected to handle the situation.

1. In case of a major flooding incident, the response will require an interagency corporation and clear communication. They are thus encouraging mutual aid benefits.
2. Streamflow gauges have been installed in the area to provide real-time information and can be found at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/il/nwis/rt (Angel, 2017).
3. Flooding may occur in the city without preliminary warning at any given time of the year; in such cases, the residents may evacuate themselves, look for shelter, or chose to sandbag as protection strategies.

Authority

1. Duties and responsibilities will be distributed as follows.

• Public works to carry out all major decisions involving the Public Right of Way.
• Fire and police departments to organize all evacuations and protection of private property.

1. Any first emergency responder that arrives at the scene should evaluate and report the situation on the ground to 911 dispatch. Should be actively involved in protecting others from exposure to the floods.

• Public warnings to be administered through the media that is Radio and Television, National Weather Service to issue weather change alerts, vehicles with Public Address Systems, door to door awareness, and reverse 911.

1. A command post with proper markings to be established and 911 dispatch be notified on the existence of the post.
2. All evacuations to be handled by both fire and police departments and assisted by emergency medical services.
3. All information to be provided to the general public, media, and other agencies through a Public Information Officer stationed at the command post.

Concept of Operation

Field simulation exercises and tabletop exercises to be carried out regularly so as to train all involved personnel oh how to use the above plan (Arrighi et al, 2019). After the real event exercise, the plan can, therefore, be adjusted accordingly depending on the results of the test exercises. Once the plan has been updated, the revised copy should be availed to all agencies and departments involved in the plan so that they can familiarize themselves. The plan holder, however, has to keep all copies of the plans, both the old version and the revised version.

Direction and Control

Appointment of an action plan leader to ensure the plan be implemented to the plan (Webber et al., 2017). The leader will ensure that all personnel appointed for duty on the off chance flash floods occur are constantly available for training. The leader also organizes efficient ways of communication between all departments involved so that every participant knows what to do and when to do it. Besides, the leader ensures all appointed personnel are competent and are fearless so as to work effectively. The leader will also foster the spirit of teamwork among departments to ensure the plan stays on course.  The leader may also divide teams into sub-groups, each containing members from different departments and allocating specific areas of duty when the floods strike. Hence, enabling the coverage of a large area within the shortest time possible.

Plan development and Maintenance

A few factors that may need to be taken into consideration during the planning face include.

1. Flooding in the city may occur at any given time of the year due to variance in natural phenomena or human-induced conditions example, jamming and debris. However, the most common would be through adverse weather conditions and might affect procedures and response times indicated in the plan (Arrighi et, al, 2019).
2. The potential loss of life or damage resulting from flooding may be magnified because the public may not identify all safety hazards associated with flooding.

• Flooding may not occur in isolation of other natural disasters, an occurrence of simultaneous natural disasters may occur, therefore requiring an adjustment to the plan at the time of the incident.

1. Flooding may result in numerous secondary events, including contamination of drinking water, landslides, sewage overloading, and thus leading to adverse impacts on the environment.
2. While fast responder may do their best, the amount of damage from flooding will be dependent on the depth of flooding, debris and sediments carried, how much area covered by floods and velocity of flow, therefore, will require effective strategies to handle the damage (Webber et al., 2017).

References

Angel, J. (2017). Climate Change in Illinois: Past, Present, and Future. Building Resiliency in the Face of Risk.

Arrighi, C., Pregnolato, M., Dawson, R. J., & Castelli, F. (2019). Preparedness against mobility disruption by floods. Science of the Total Environment, 654, 1010-1022.

Webber, D., Gissing, A., Dufty, N., & Bird, D. (2017). Community participation in emergency planning: NSW state emergency service case study. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, The, 32(2), 28.