First time county has activated long-standing Emergency Operations Center
How’s your memory? How many inches of snow did Greene County get during the winter storms of 1973? What year did Jefferson get hit with derecho winds that ended up with the city receiving a Governor’s Declaration of Disaster? During Tom Heater’s tenure as sheriff, what year did we have a snow event which closed down the county and seemed to last a week? Did you know that between 1996 and 2019, Greene County had 17 flood events which resulted in nearly $2 million in property damage and $21 million in crop damage?
Every community in Greene County has suffered flash floods. What year did Jefferson receive a 10-inch rain which resulted in Des Moines losing their water supply? Greene County had four tornados between 2014 and 2019. What year did a tornado follow Highway 25 from near Bayard to just south of Scranton?
Did you know that Greene County suffered from 44 winter storms between 1998 and 2012? Between 2014 and 2019, Greene County had 26 winter storm events which included four blizzards and an ice event which ended up with power loss which took days to restore.
Through the years, Greene County has had numerous weather-related events which resulted in Governor’s Declaration of Disaster and the county receiving FEMA disaster funds.
During all the weather-related events, Greene County did not activate a full Emergency Operations Center (EOC). It’s taken a pandemic but now Greene County has its EOC open to deal with the issues of the day.
Greene County has an approved Disaster Plan which includes 15 sections known as Emergency Support Functions (ESFs). Included in the ESFs are detailed plans which include Transportation, Communications, Public Works, Firefighting, Emergency Management, Mass Care, Resource Management, Public Health and Medical Services, Search and Rescue, Hazardous Materials, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Energy, Public Safety and Security, and Long Term Recovery.
Preparation for a possible pandemic has been ongoing for many years.
Greene County’s EOC is now in its fourth week of full operation with John Muir serving as Chairperson. Other individuals serving the EOC include: Pete Bardole, Wade Weiss, Michelle Fields, Chuck Wenthold, Dennis Morlan, Jack Williams, Mark Clouse, Michele Madsen, Brandon Hayes (GCMC), Becky Wolf, and city mayors Matt Gordon, Cole Gustoff and Gerold Herrick.
A tremendous amount of information has been received by the Greene County Emergency Management office and Greene County public health. Sharing information has been a foremost goal of the EOC. When important communications have been received, they have been immediately passed on to all county and city leaders and department heads.
All EOC meetings include time for sharing of events and plans by the Greene County Medical Center, public health, law enforcement, EMS, Emergency Management, public works, and the various cities.
Support of all agencies is a prime goal of the EOC. Working through Emergency Management, Greene County has received five shipments of PPEs (personal protective equipment) to support emergency responders, hospital and public health employees, nursing homes and group home staff.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit the IDPH webpage at https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus.
