By Sean Dalton
sdalton@heritage.com
Twitter: @seankdalton
The Dexter community's strength played a key role in the immediate reaction to and recovery from the devastating F3 tornado that touched down on March 15 and damaged more than 200 homes, some of which are still in the process of being rebuilt or repaired.
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The people living in the Dexter area have built a community by forging bonds to improve their overall quality of life and to make the area a great place to live - not to prepare for any major disaster.
All the same, the community's strength played a key role in the immediate reaction to and recovery from the devastating F3 tornado that touched down on March 15 and damaged more than 200 homes, some of which are still in the process of being rebuilt or repaired.
The tornado and the community's response make it Heritage Media's No. 1 story of 2012.
Virtually every organization and agency within Washtenaw County responded in some way, proving the community's strength and laying the groundwork for future emergency response not just in Dexter, but across Washtenaw County.
"You don't think about where you are going to store the 100 cases of water that Lowe's wants to give you," said Assistant Village Manager Courtney Nicholls.
Managing donated resources, directing eager volunteers (or holding them back initially when their helpfulness could put them in harm's way), reaching residents when your electronic means of communication are hamstrung by lost power - these are some of the experiences that local government officials have learned from.
The hope is that there won't be another incident of such magnitude in the county, but the Dexter area and its partners in the tornado response at the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, the Michigan State Police and the county government walked away wiser and more prepared.
"One example is we have our server for email off site so when the power (in the village) goes down, we can access it from anywhere and get messages out (under those circumstances," Nicholls said. "The tornado is also when we started using Facebook. Even though we had (the email server) back the next day, (it was still good to have an alternative avenue of communication)."
Just letting people know that the village government was functioning, and coordinating people and resources was important to many residents.
"You just want to let people know that services are fine for the rest of the village," she said. Continued...
The village government also knows that it can count on trash and recycling service provider Waste Management to help when Dumpsters are needed to hold debris.
"We had a lot of things in place that we could use. Debris removal was handled quickly and getting those Dumpsters was a big help," Nicholls said.
Dexter Township has done a lot to prepare for a similar incident in the future, not being in the same position as the village in terms of resources and manpower.
Unlike the village, the township doesn't have emergency sirens, a company like Waste Management at its disposal, or as many financial and human resources, which is why Township Supervisor Pat Kelly, the township board and the township's employees have been hard at work.
"I think we did pretty well given that we have no staff to speak of," Kelly said. "The village has staff - an assistant village manager, department of public work -we have two part-time office workers and a zoning administrator and, other than that, elected officials."
At the time, the township worked with the county and the sheriff's office, and coordinated volunteers from Dexter Township Hall, while the township's comparatively ragtag group handed out fliers to affected residents every couple of days.
Kelly said she's glad that all of her residents were alive and well enough to receive messages, due to the timing of the storm. Ensuring area residents get by similarly unscathed from future incidents is why the township approved expenses to build 16 early warning sirens in the township, in addition to bolstering fire safety.
"Obviously, the outdoor warning sirens were a project that wouldn't have been dreamed of, if it weren't for the tornado," Kelly said. "We saw firsthand that people in the village (were) prepared with the sirens, and we, on the (township) board), felt that was very helpful.
"If any severe weather or anything like that happens again, we want to be as prepared as the village is. Given the damage, we're lucky that no one was hurt or worse."
The township's sirens are still a work in progress that is expected to be completed in 2013. The 16 sirens will be controllable by township officials, as well as county emergency managers and local weather officials. Continued...
Kelly said that the sirens will be utilized in incidents large and small, including a situation of a lost child.
"If a child is lost at Silver Lake Beach, we could activate the siren closest to that location to alert folks to look for that missing child," Kelly said.
Township officials are also working on "continuity of government policies, procedures and protocols" that will address a number of scenarios, including what happens if the township hall is hit by a tornado or other calamity.
"We're working on policies to address those issues," Kelly said. "Our Public Safety Advisory Committee is working on that in an effort to be more prepared and have our residents be more informed and prepared, as well."
Kelly and Nicholls both agreed that one thing that isn't lacking or in need of improvement is the outpouring of support that is waiting to spring forth from the Washtenaw County community in such instances of disaster.
"The response was in the thousands," Kelly said. "It wasn't just community residents, but people from far away, from church organizations, other volunteer organizations that just help out in disasters."
Nicholls said that the village couldn't have managed and utilized all of the volunteers without the help of Dexter Community Schools or Faith in Action.
"The biggest piece was dealing with the phone calls and the people who wanted to volunteer and donate things," she said. "We were lucky that we didn't have the damage and the people in need of much. People wanted to keep donating. We couldn't have managed that without the schools and Faith in Action."
Staff Writer Sean Dalton can be reached at 734-429-7380 or sdalton@heritage.com. Follow him on Twitter @seankdalton. Text HERNews and HERWeather to 22700 to receive news and weather alerts to your cellphone. Msg and data rates may apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? No. 2 STORY 2012: President Obama visits Southeast Michigan twice??????????????????????????????????????????? No. 3 STORY 2012: Ypsilanti, Willow Run school districts merge?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? No. 4 STORY 2012: Sylvan Township solves debt repayment, but many issues still linger
The people living in the Dexter area have built a community by forging bonds to improve their overall quality of life and to make the area a great place to live - not to prepare for any major disaster.
All the same, the community's strength played a key role in the immediate reaction to and recovery from the devastating F3 tornado that touched down on March 15 and damaged more than 200 homes, some of which are still in the process of being rebuilt or repaired.
The tornado and the community's response make it Heritage Media's No. 1 story of 2012.
Virtually every organization and agency within Washtenaw County responded in some way, proving the community's strength and laying the groundwork for future emergency response not just in Dexter, but across Washtenaw County.
"You don't think about where you are going to store the 100 cases of water that Lowe's wants to give you," said Assistant Village Manager Courtney Nicholls.
Managing donated resources, directing eager volunteers (or holding them back initially when their helpfulness could put them in harm's way), reaching residents when your electronic means of communication are hamstrung by lost power - these are some of the experiences that local government officials have learned from.
The hope is that there won't be another incident of such magnitude in the county, but the Dexter area and its partners in the tornado response at the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, the Michigan State Police and the county government walked away wiser and more prepared.
"One example is we have our server for email off site so when the power (in the village) goes down, we can access it from anywhere and get messages out (under those circumstances," Nicholls said. "The tornado is also when we started using Facebook. Even though we had (the email server) back the next day, (it was still good to have an alternative avenue of communication)."
Just letting people know that the village government was functioning, and coordinating people and resources was important to many residents.
"You just want to let people know that services are fine for the rest of the village," she said.
The village government also knows that it can count on trash and recycling service provider Waste Management to help when Dumpsters are needed to hold debris.
"We had a lot of things in place that we could use. Debris removal was handled quickly and getting those Dumpsters was a big help," Nicholls said.
Dexter Township has done a lot to prepare for a similar incident in the future, not being in the same position as the village in terms of resources and manpower.
Unlike the village, the township doesn't have emergency sirens, a company like Waste Management at its disposal, or as many financial and human resources, which is why Township Supervisor Pat Kelly, the township board and the township's employees have been hard at work.
"I think we did pretty well given that we have no staff to speak of," Kelly said. "The village has staff - an assistant village manager, department of public work -we have two part-time office workers and a zoning administrator and, other than that, elected officials."
At the time, the township worked with the county and the sheriff's office, and coordinated volunteers from Dexter Township Hall, while the township's comparatively ragtag group handed out fliers to affected residents every couple of days.
Kelly said she's glad that all of her residents were alive and well enough to receive messages, due to the timing of the storm. Ensuring area residents get by similarly unscathed from future incidents is why the township approved expenses to build 16 early warning sirens in the township, in addition to bolstering fire safety.
"Obviously, the outdoor warning sirens were a project that wouldn't have been dreamed of, if it weren't for the tornado," Kelly said. "We saw firsthand that people in the village (were) prepared with the sirens, and we, on the (township) board), felt that was very helpful.
"If any severe weather or anything like that happens again, we want to be as prepared as the village is. Given the damage, we're lucky that no one was hurt or worse."
The township's sirens are still a work in progress that is expected to be completed in 2013. The 16 sirens will be controllable by township officials, as well as county emergency managers and local weather officials.
Kelly said that the sirens will be utilized in incidents large and small, including a situation of a lost child.
"If a child is lost at Silver Lake Beach, we could activate the siren closest to that location to alert folks to look for that missing child," Kelly said.
Township officials are also working on "continuity of government policies, procedures and protocols" that will address a number of scenarios, including what happens if the township hall is hit by a tornado or other calamity.
"We're working on policies to address those issues," Kelly said. "Our Public Safety Advisory Committee is working on that in an effort to be more prepared and have our residents be more informed and prepared, as well."
Kelly and Nicholls both agreed that one thing that isn't lacking or in need of improvement is the outpouring of support that is waiting to spring forth from the Washtenaw County community in such instances of disaster.
"The response was in the thousands," Kelly said. "It wasn't just community residents, but people from far away, from church organizations, other volunteer organizations that just help out in disasters."
Nicholls said that the village couldn't have managed and utilized all of the volunteers without the help of Dexter Community Schools or Faith in Action.
"The biggest piece was dealing with the phone calls and the people who wanted to volunteer and donate things," she said. "We were lucky that we didn't have the damage and the people in need of much. People wanted to keep donating. We couldn't have managed that without the schools and Faith in Action."
Staff Writer Sean Dalton can be reached at 734-429-7380 or sdalton@heritage.com. Follow him on Twitter @seankdalton. Text HERNews and HERWeather to 22700 to receive news and weather alerts to your cellphone. Msg and data rates may apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? No. 2 STORY 2012: President Obama visits Southeast Michigan twice??????????????????????????????????????????? No. 3 STORY 2012: Ypsilanti, Willow Run school districts merge?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? No. 4 STORY 2012: Sylvan Township solves debt repayment, but many issues still linger
Source: http://www.heritage.com/articles/2012/12/30/dexter_leader/news/doc50df2af9ade41542469615.txt
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