County gets in step with FEMA

McDowell What would happen in Carroll County if a tornado ripped through the courthouse as it did in White County in April 1974? Or if it rained so much the ground became totally saturated and all septic systems became useless in the little communities of Burrows or Yeoman?

Some county representatives have these types of thoughts, and fears, as they perform their daily jobs. For those who are not expected to manage disasters when they happen, emergency response solutions may not come easily.

After the 100- year flood of 2008 and the aftermath of the devastation, it became apparent to Carroll County’s newly appointed Emergency Management Agency Director Dave Mc- Dowell that the county was not receiving funding that other counties received to minimize disaster damages and costs to repair those damages. Although McDowell was personally affected by the flood, he started to research how to tap into additional FEMA funds for damage prevention measures. McDowell discovered that all Indiana counties were to have developed a disaster mitigation plan per a state statute enacted in 2000.

Former EMA director Justin Darling said that he was aware of the need for a plan but received a lack of support from a former county department head who would have been critical to the planning process.

“In 2004, when the flood hit Delphi, counties were on their own to develop the plan,” he said. “The facts have changed since then. The resistance to the plan that I faced is no longer present.”

McDowell said that during his effort to create the plan, he happened to contact the Polis Center, which is affiliated with the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, for information about how to use a new computer program that projects disaster damage. He quickly realized that this contact was critical.

“By pure accident, I found out that the state department of homeland security hired the Polis Center to organize the county and write the plan for us!” he said. “I was expecting that it was up to me alone to do the plan, and I was certainly willing to do that, but this was even better.”

McDowell learned that the Polis Center was ready to begin working with Carroll County to develop the plan, which will act as a funding conduit for FEMA dollars for disaster prevention, or mitigation, activities in the county.

“This community can potentially receive funding for ways to minimize damage from floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, dam failure, major water events and ecological disasters,” McDowell explained. “FEMA money can be used to reduce the impact of the disaster either by prevention, such as shelters, home elevation and education, or to accumulate resources, such as the tools necessary to make repairs after the damage has been done.”

The Polis Center and Mc- Dowell held an initial meeting Oct. 29 at the Flora Community Center to introduce the planning process and to identify a county-wide planning team. McDowell said he will be contacting those in the communities who are knowledgeable about what resources would be at risk for a majority of community members in the event of a disaster.

Five meetings will be held to develop the plan. McDowell was given a list of obvious critical facilities for which updated information was needed. In addition, he was charged to add additional sites to the list which could be at risk in the event of a disaster. McDowell said he would reach out to community members to gain as much accurate information as possible to present at the second meeting, which is expected to be scheduled within a month.

“We have been given a good starting point with the information Polis presented to us Thursday,” McDowell explained. “But I know there are other sites that should be added in order to help reduce potential damage from future disasters.” “Historically, weather has been the force that has produced disasters,” he continued. “But that doesn’t mean we are immune from other kinds of disasters here. We just don’t normally think of them happening to us because they have not…yet.”

According to Polis Center representative Adam Campbell, there will be no cost to the county for the plan. He explained that the grant by which the Polis Center is paid for the work dictates a 25 percent match by the county. He said between county-wide sweat equity and county provided data, the match would be met. He also said at the completion of all county plans, the Polis Center will have completed 75 percent of them.

McDowell invited residents to provide risk assessment information to his office by calling (765) 564-4243 or by e-mail at dmcdowell@cacoshrf. com. For addition information about the Polis Center visit www.polis.iupui.edu.