By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Professor Michelle Vazquez Jacobus picked a beautiful day to destroy the city.

On the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston campus, a 50-degree breeze ruffled the leaves of autumn trees.

But inside Jacobus’ classroom, students and guests braced for a mythical monster named Hurricane Zelda that was bearing down on the Twin Cities, promising death and destruction.

Jacobus laid out the mock scenario:

The Category 3 storm was expected to make landfall Friday around Kittery and slowly work its way north. It had already brought eight days of rain, dumping as much as 6 inches daily in Lewiston and swelling the Androscoggin River to pre-flood stages.

When the storm arrived, it would bring winds of up to 125 mph. The river would rise over its banks, inundating parts of Lewiston and Auburn and threatening the four bridges that link the two. Officials feared the waters would overwhelm the Great Falls, turning Lewiston’s main arteries into rivers.

The disaster was created as a class exercise, with the American Red Cross, emergency response officials and area social service agencies on hand to explain their responses to a deadly emergency.

“One of the things Hurricane Katrina did for New Orleans was identify the fault-lines in society, and show where things break down,” Jacobus said. She hoped Thursday’s exercise would do the same thing for Lewiston, without its citizens having to endure an actual disaster.

Ruin and recovery

Jacobus said there was little doubt her scenario would ruin Lewiston. A letter from the city gave a brief list of what to expect: No city drinking water for weeks and a ruined sewage treatment plant. Storm water would overwhelm drains and take out power and telephones. The swollen river could divide Maine in two, severing central Maine from the coast.

Evacuees would be sent to shelters, according to Joanne Potvin, director of the Androscoggin County Emergency Management Agency. The three largest would likely be the Colisee, Lewiston High School and the Lewiston Memorial Armory.

Downtown Lewiston wouldn’t be the only concern, said Douglas Hoyt, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter. Coastal Maine evacuees would be headed this way, looking for high ground. Shelters would have to be prepared for that as well.

“It’s one thing if we expect 50 people at a shelter, but it’s something else if we get 1,000,” he said.

Evacuees would be evaluated for medical conditions and treatment. Those who needed it would be sent to area hospitals. People who get social services such as mental health counseling would be expected to contact their care providers to arrange for help.

“At some point, there’s a sense of personal responsibility that needs to be taken,” said Linda Hertell, CEO of Richardson Hollow.

That didn’t sit well with some of the students. They doubted that everyone who would need help would have a caseworker.

“Caseworkers just don’t emanate out of the sidewalk,” Jacobus said. Shelters need to be able to handle all kinds of problems.

Others were realistic.

“Not everyone can be saved,” said student Carla Gill of Auburn. “People are going to fall through the cracks, and everything we do won’t change that.”

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