We are appointed by the governor, so should there be a catastrophic event, the governor can then work through the 26 directors to affect statewide responses and recovery. The director then has delegated authority or direct authority to coalesce those county resources toward a response. Alot of our plans and systems that we created in 2016 helped in 2018.ĭuring emergencies, the directors work side by side with the county executive who creates policy. Howard County is unique in that we had a similar disaster twice in a short period of time. After the initial response, we chart the recovery plan, which can be anywhere between six months to a year. We also work with the State of Maryland and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency to pull in resources from outside of the region and outside the state and interact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and all federal agencies that are brought in resources to assist us. Our role in both storms was to set up the emergency operation center in Ellicott City and bring together all the county agencies toward a common response goal and lead the recovery. It was the predecessor to the 20 which were severe. Tropical Storm Lee causes roadway flooding and set off a lot of planning and mitigation planning within the county. It was a relatively minor storm now that we have 20 in perspective. That is when I personally saw the hazards associated with Ellicott City and flash flooding. It was associated with Tropical Storm Lee. Miller: I have been part of three Ellicott City floods. What was your role in rescue operations? And how do you work with local government to create policy changes? We continuously train for this and are always looking for improvement to prepare for whatever may come. Responder work is not as iconic as the media makes it to seem but the work is very important. We look for any potential survivors or casualties and provide a degree of stabilization of those structures to minimize the chance of secondary collapse while our personnel are in them until they can be safely turned over to private contractors who take over that work. Once those rescues are made there is a methodical process of assessing the damage to structures after water has rescinded. Once the immediate rescues are done, there is an ongoing process to try to determine that everyone is accounted for.Įventually we shift to recovery. The immediate response is to rescue everyone with as many strategies as possible. Our responders have flotation devices on their apparatus to safely make entry into that environment as well as boats, rigging to remove people, and aerial ladders on trucks to reach people.There are also specially trained swift water rescue teams. We have the right equipment and use a variety of strategies and tactics to affect as many rescues as possible. Rescuers from the lay public also help – neighbors helping neighbors. That is not just us but firefighters, police officers, sheriff deputies, and anyone who is responsible for getting people out of harm’s way. Our responders will risk their lives to try to affect rescues if it is technically feasible and capable. Once our responders received notification, they went into immediate response mode, which is to rescue and to get people out of harm’s way. They were the ones managing the phone lines and keeping people calm, giving them direction about what to do and not do as flood waters were rising and people were rightfully panicking and scared. Levy: Our 911 operators and dispatchers are some of the biggest heroes of the Ellicott City Floods that most people won’t know about. ‘08, emergency health services, medical director for EHS, and medical director of Howard County Fire and Rescue Services.Ĭould you tell us about your emergency response to the Ellicott City floods? Included are Susan Sterett, director of the School of Public Policy, on the role of public policy in natural disasters John Rennie Short, public policy, researcher of urban infrastructure Ryan Miller ’99, emergency health services (EHS), former director of emergency management director and deputy chief of fire and rescue for Howard County and Matt Levy ‘00, M.S. UMBC Magazin e sat down with experts in public policy and emergency health services for some insight into policy issues and options for flood hazard management. Recovery from the flooding in Ellicott City has been long and difficult, and communities have often been left with more questions than answers.
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