Besides offering old-fashioned advice for residents to stash water and canned vegetables in their cellars to prepare for the upcoming winter, the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency is also setting up river sensors to monitor water levels and outfitting schools with emergency radios.
Scott Parker, director of the county agency, said, “Wintertime, from December to March, is an emergency event.” He said of all possible calamities to befall the region, wintertime and its harsh weather pose the likeliest hazard.
His office is overseeing preparations to ready the county for a possible repeat of last winter, when the county endured three crippling snowstorms and a severe flood, Parker said. “You don’t have to go back to 1998 to say when we had our last challenge,” he said.
Now, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s faulty relief handling, Parker said it is time to make doubly sure local emergency systems are primed, prepped and ready for action.
This fall three solar-powered river sensors will be placed along the Androscoggin River to track water levels in Bethel, Rumford and Canton, Parker said.
The cost for the sensors is roughly $50,000, which will be covered by a grant from the Maine Emergency Management Agency, Parker said.
Steven Burgess, deputy director of MEMA, said flooding is common in the winter and spring, but that rivers can be unpredictable in all seasons. “Sometimes they react fast,” Burgess said, “and sometimes hardly at all.”
Over the years, Canton, Rumford and Bethel especially have been beset with devastating floods that have caused millions of dollars in damages. Last year, spring floods also washed out areas around the county.
Parker said, “The potential is still out there for a big flood based on a bad winter to create that situation. (The sensors) give us the ability to prepare for something before it happens, rather than say, whoops, the water is in the door.”
The equipment will provide an early warning system as well as collect long-term data about river behavior, Parker said.
When water levels creep up, dispatchers at the regional communications center will receive alerts on their computer screens, and they can then inform local police and fire departments to get the word out to residents and businesses in the flood plain.
The agency’s other new initiative is to distribute emergency radios to the county’s schools. All of Maine’s schools will be equipped with these radios by the end of 2005, a project that costs about $24,000, according to Olan Johnston, director of preparedness at MEMA. The money comes from Maine’s $62 million homeland security fund, which the state has received over the past three years.
“The radios are helping build the relationship between emergency development and schools,” Johnston said. About half of Maine’s nearly 600 schools have already received the radios, which cost roughly $40 each.
About 46 schools in Oxford County – both private and public – will receive the radios in several weeks, Johnston said.
The technology is similar to Amber Alert communication technology, Johnston said, allowing officials to send messages statewide or more locally to counties and regions to warn of storms, attacks, chemical spills and other events that might endanger students.
But people can help themselves the most, Parker said. They should ensure that their homes are stocked with emergency supplies.
Parker said his 86-year-old father-in-law sets an example for how to weather Maine’s inclemencies. If you descend into his basement, you’ll see relishes, canned potatoes and carrots, pickles, rice and more, Parker said.
“Old people who can still get around are probably prepared,” Parker said. “They come from a generation with stocked root cellars. Younger generations that bought their first home probably do not think along those lines. They would probably say they have tap water when asked what stockpiles they have.”
If anyone is uncomfortable during or after a storm, they can head to one of the local shelters. Do not forget to bring medical information, legal documents and cash, Parker warned.
For more information about about emergency preparedness and local shelters, call the agency at 743-6336.
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