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| Emergency Operation Center in Illinois Busy at Work |
(IRN)-While many people are resting at home, there's one place in Springfield that's awfully busy, the State Emergency Operation Center. It's hosting state and federal emergency management professionals, as well as representatives of numerous other state agencies, plus the Red Cross and National Guard.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency runs the show. Spokeswoman Patti
Thompson looks out a window down into the large, bustling command center full of people on the phone, people writing on marker boards, and people watching weather reports and discussing what to do next.
"The people that you see here represent their agencies and they have the ability to go back to their agencies and say 'we have this need, we need these resources,' 'what are our abilities,' and then they can commit, they have the authority to commit those resources to this and then we coordinate it," says Thompson.
Despite information from the National Weather Service that says the ice risk has narrowed and moved south of Springfield, the biggest concern Tuesday afternoon is still ice.
"Ice is a really serious consideration because it brings down power lines, and then you end up with people without power," said Thompson. "So we're keeping in close contact with (the National Weather Service) and making sure that the locals are also on those calls and have that information so that they can plan accordingly."
Thompson says the work of strategic planning done prior to this weather event has helped inform the decision makers at the SEOC on how to act now.
"The ice storm plan, the winter storm plan is one of those plans that they've developed. And that's taking a lot of the questioning out of it because somebody's already thought through all of this and they've laid out…checklists that really need to be done. And that's really helping us," said Thompson.
An ice storm in 2006 also taught the decision makers valuable lessons. Thompson says planning ahead of the storm is the most important thing to do right now.
"We're trying to look ahead," she said. "Obviously, the weather hasn't gotten nearly as bad as it's going to get, but we have to think ahead before it gets too bad and it gets too late."
"I'm sure that if we have this conversation 24 hours from now, that we'll be looking at a completely different picture," said Thompson.
The SEOC hasn't seen this much activity since heavy rains caused a series of floods on the Mississippi River in June 2008.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 02 01 11 by Newsroom |
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