By LARRY H. WILLIAMS JR. and CHRIS ETHEREDGE
In South Alabama, the SAYING, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a few hours and it will change!” is commonly heard. Residents of this part of the country are accustomed to rapidly changing weather conditions. Aside from dealing with tropical storms, being just 60 miles from the Gulf Coast, the region is also prone to tornadoes. Therefore, throughout spring and summer, fire departments must keep a watchful eye to the sky in preparation for destructive weather. The following article describes a unique weather event, the Dothan (AL) Fire Department’s (DFD’s) response, and lessons learned.
As with any other spring in the Deep South, DFD staff members were preparing for several days of rain before the week of March 23, 2009. Little did we know that this week would create the worst flooding in our region in years. Significant amounts of rain fell each day during the week, culminating with more than 10 inches falling on Saturday, March 28, alone. With the saturated ground, ditches full of water, and storm drains at capacity the Dothan/Houston County, Alabama, and “Wiregrass” areas faced new challenges with what has since been referred to as the “100-Year Flood.” Although we were accustomed to localized street flooding in the past, this storm gave public safety and public works personnel challenges they had never faced before.
To prepare, the Dothan/Houston County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), in conjunction with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Florida, held a series of live webinars that were aimed at not only forecasting the upcoming weather but also chronicling the rainfall already received throughout the week. Those in attendance at these meetings worked collectively to prepare (as best they could) to deal with the onslaught of rain headed our way. Area police departments, the sheriff’s department, fire departments (paid and volunteer), public health agencies, and public and private schools worked together to develop a specific game plan that supported our existing countywide emergency operations plan (EOP). As the weekend approached, Fire Chief Larry Williams, Police Chief John Powell, and EMA Director Clark Matthews met frequently to discuss issues that would ensure a timely response to meet citizens’ needs. Aside from reviewing staffing needs and special response considerations, a plan was put in place to stand up and staff the Dothan/Houston County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Just as predicted, the heavy rains arrived early Saturday morning and response requests quickly overloaded our current capabilities. Key players arrived at the EOC at approximately 0600 hours to begin coordinating resources and responding to calls for service, both emergency and nonemergency, throughout the county. With the requests for services exceeding our normal capabilities, this would prove to be quite a daunting task. Planning meetings, a unified command structure, and effective documentation were implemented in accordance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS), allowing the EOC to effectively and efficiently manage the overwhelming needs of our citizens. Initially, our focus was on those areas that we knew—historically—had a tendency to flood. These preidentified areas were closely monitored by law enforcement and fire companies conducting “windshield surveys” in specific zones within our city/county. The EOC and Red Cross developed a plan to identify evacuation shelters and provide assistance to remove victims from flooded areas. As with any flooding situation, sandbags quickly became a hot commodity; scores were filled by jail trustees and distributed to residents throughout the city and county. This effort proved to be very effective for minor “high water” issues around residences and commercial structures. The EOC was receiving more requests for sandbags than could be delivered and put in place.
Another challenge encountered was sandbag requests for areas that required hundreds of bags to prevent catastrophic breaks in holding ponds. The case in point was the pond and dam in an upscale residential neighborhood on Dothan’s west side. As water began to flow over this earthen dam (with an asphalt road on top), the water began to undercut the asphalt and became a significant hazard to those traveling across it to their homes. Although this danger was a concern to all public safety officials, the overriding concern was the major thoroughfare and several hundred homes that lie just down stream. The DFD was contacted by members of the city’s Public Works Department for assistance in securing the dam. Realizing just how many sandbags it would take to effectively divert water away from the washout, which spanned more than 75 feet, Fire Marshal Danny Appling offered our Flood Safe® water diverter to protect the infrastructure downstream. The Flood Safe® device, developed and constructed in Dothan, was deployed by an engine company and quickly filled with more than 5,000 gallons of water. Spanning 100 feet in length, the device, when filled with water, creates a seal with the ground along the footprint of the bladder, diverting the water away from the washed out area of the dam. What took less than 45 minutes to have in place would have taken numerous man-hours and hundreds of sandbags to accomplish. With the Flood Safe® unit in place, city officials felt confident that the structures and roadways downstream from the pond would be protected.
Throughout the day, a number of rescues were performed and calls for service increased dramatically because of rising waters. Members working through the various emergency support function (ESF) roles in the EOC were kept busy throughout the event coordinating resources and responses. Captain Chris Etheredge, the DFD’s public information officer, working effectively with the EMA director and fire and police chiefs, used the various local media outlets to advise citizens of the dangers and precautions associated with flooding, emphasizing that all citizens should stay off the roadways.
As the event progressed, as usual, citizens and visitors began to explore the flooded areas, and many failed to heed the advice to stay inside. The DFD’s call volume for the 24-hour period was nearly that of an average week for our agency. This increase in volume resulted in the recall of off-duty personnel to staff reserve engine companies as well as staff vehicles for incident response. Remember that with the increased number of responses, flooding residences, flooded roads, and even flooded occupied cars in the roadways, the fire department was required to continue handling its normal daily run load. Postincident reviews revealed that all other agencies involved in the incident were taxed to the same level during this catastrophic event. Without the standardized planning and operating guidelines set forth by NIMS and the members that staffed each of the ESFs, this event would have become unmanageable as the volume of requests more than quadrupled.
All of the agencies involved performed exceptionally and agreed that the effective use of a management system greatly enhanced their ability to function and communicate with each other. Most of the public safety agencies have a working knowledge of NIMS; however, for many of the other agencies and departments, this was the first opportunity for them to put into action the concepts they have recently learned from required NIMS training sessions. Throughout the event, the fire department hosted lead representatives from each city’s department along with a number of our elected officials in our department’s EOC to facilitate the decision-making process. By doing this, we could allocate resources appropriately in a prioritized manner and use our information officer, located in the EOC, to speak to the public (through media outlets) with a unified voice from all involved agencies.
A number of lessons were learned during this event, but the lessons reinforced were even more significant. Using the easily portable water-filled tube unit, which, when filled, seals to the ground, worked well (rather than spending countless hours sandbagging a 100-foot segment of a dam). The hours and labor saved with this device allowed resources to respond to additional calls for service rather than mitigate this one situation. The reinforcement of properly using NIMS and all players operating within the system was beneficial for everyone involved. Finally, we were reassured that the personnel employed to serve the citizens and visitors of our city and county would rise to meet the challenge, working the required hours and taking the calculated risks required to serve and protect those in need.
What started as a week of rain and scattered thunderstorms turned into an overwhelming event for South Alabama. The 100-Year Flood was later declared a federal disaster by President Barack Obama. In retrospect, the knowledge and foresight to work within NIMS and document our planning, responses, and expenditures proved to be key in obtaining that presidential declaration.
● LARRY H. WILLIAMS JR. is a 28-year emergency services veteran and the chief of the Dothan (AL) Fire Department (DFD).
● CHRIS ETHEREDGE is a 15-year emergency services veteran and a captain in the DFD.
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