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Officials conduct annual evaluation of Trumbull County man-made and natural hazards
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
At the onset of a new year, Trumbull County officials gathered last week to assess the county’s most-serious man-made and natural hazards.
A committee of five people representing the county and Warren health departments, Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency and ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital ranked severe thunderstorms, windstorms and tornadoes as the most-serious threat.
That’s the same No. 1 ranking when a slightly different group discussed and ranked the top hazards one year earlier, said Sandy Swann, director of nursing at the county health department.
In fact, among the top nine, the group made only a few adjustments from the previous year – adding animal or insect infestation or damage to the list at No. 4 and terrorism at No. 7.
Earthquakes, which were in the news in 2014 because of ones occurring in Weathersfield Township because of a since-closed injection well, dropped from No. 7 to No. 9.
Emerging diseases remained No. 2, while flooding was No. 3 and snow and ice dropped from No. 4 to No. 5.
Health Commissioner Frank Migliozzi, one of the two members of the health board on the committee, said insect infestation is an emerging issue, with infections such as the kissing bug moving toward Ohio from the Southern states.
Kissing bugs also are known as a triatomine bug or assassin bug, and they can carry the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi that causes Chagas disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They can live indoors, in cracks and holes of substandard housing, or in a variety of outdoor settings such as beneath porches, under cement, in rodent nests or animal burrows or outdoor doghouses.
Other insects of concern are mosquitoes, gypsy moths, ticks and fleas, Migliozzi said.
One reason that hazard was ranked so high, Swann said, is because it can impact such a large percentage of the population and can have a duration of a year or more.
Terrorism was a topic fresh on people’s minds when the assessment took place because of the terrorist killings in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. The group ranked it No. 7. Terrorism didn’t crack the top 10 the year before.
The survey was a requirement for the federal public-health emergency preparedness funding the health department receives, Swann said.
The most-recent hazard analysis conducted for the county EMA was in 2010 and was carried out by a professional consulting firm. Trumbull EMA is due for an updated analysis in 2016, said Linda Beil, director.
The EMA assessment lists flooding and severe winter storm as the two most-serious risks, with severe wind or tornado third. Severe thunderstorms are fourth. It ranked terrorism No. 7.