EMA chief: Floods threaten

The director has made strides to improve communications equipment.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County has never had to worry about hurricanes like the Southeastern United States or wildfires and earthquakes like the West Coast, but its residents still need to be prepared for the worst.
In the eyes of Linda Beil, director of Trumbull County's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the most likely hazard here is flooding.
Snowstorms, tornadoes, chemical spills and dam failure are among the top dangers in the county, but flooding is No. 1 -- largely because it has caused the most damage in the 41/2 years since she became EMA director in January 2001.
"If you would have asked me four to five years ago, I wouldn't have said flooding was a big concern. But we had two bouts of flooding," she said, referring to the summer of 2003 and spring of 2004.
"We got slammed. We got the flooding in July and again the following March," she said.
A mitigation plan she submitted this month to the Federal Emergency Management Agency reflects the flooding concerns.
In this plan, the county lists problems that need to be overcome to alleviate flooding in the future. Some ideas are to raise properties' elevations or to demolish the houses in such flood-prone areas.
The only specific example she gives is the dozen or so houses below Interstate 80 in Girard, along the Mahoning River. Those houses flood "every year," she said. The city and Ohio EMA officials are working on buying the houses so the residents can relocate, she said.
Necessary for FEMA funds
Beil said all but six Trumbull County communities have signed off on the plan so far.
The reason they need to sign the plan is to qualify for FEMA funding in the future if such a disaster would hit their area.
She said all six have placed the item on their governmental agendas so the matter can be taken care of this month.
During the previous floods, for example, Warren and Hubbard qualified for FEMA compensation, she said.
In recent months a large part of her job has involved upgrades to the communications equipment needed to notify the public of approaching disasters or cope with the aftermath.
For example, the agency is prepared to install the last two of 20 alert sirens throughout the county. The sirens, which cost about $295,000 altogether, are for alerting the public to dangers such as tornadoes.
Upgrading towers
It is also spending $430,000 to upgrade communications towers in the county that are used by first responders such as police, fire and emergency medical workers to communicate with one another.
Beil said the upgrades are going to make the biggest difference in the northern part of the county.
Another communications upgrade involves providing alert monitors for every school building in the county. The monitors can be activated by the county 911 center in Howland to alert the schools of emergencies.
The monitors can be tuned to pick up weather alerts or to monitor the county sheriff's department radio frequency.
Beil is halfway done delivering the 100 devices, which cost $35,000 in all.
The agency is also helping first responders get new radios and pagers to enable them to communicate on high band, a frequency that will make communications better, she said.
Training for civilians
Another big part of being prepared for an emergency is community emergency response team, or CERT, training for civilians. The training equips participants in such things as putting out fires, turning off gas and basic first aid.
When an emergency occurs, such teams help around their own homes and then go to a team assembly point, where information about the status of various neighborhoods will be coordinated.
About 150 people have been trained so far at sessions in Kinsman, Newton Falls, Warren, Howland and Hubbard, she said.
The next class is at the Gustavus Fire Department on Tuesday, Wednesday, Oct. 25 and 26.
To stay active, CERT members have helped with local disaster relief efforts such as loading trucks full of supplies sent to hurricane victims.
Beil's office is at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and has been moved from place to place in recent years.
She has worked out of an office on Chestnut Avenue in Warren and in the 911 Center in Howland.
Her quarters are still considered temporary.
runyan@vindy.com