The assessment team was
appointed by the Governor to identify the problems that
occurred in responding to Isabel and to make
recommendations on improvements to emergency
preparedness and response. The team, chaired by
W. Robert “Bob” Herbert, former Roanoke
City Manager, prepared a six page questionnaire
covering disaster training and experience, preparing
for Isabel, sheltering, communications, coordination,
damage assessment and recovery, and public information.
The questionnaire was mailed to 128 people at the
state and local level, and had a response rate of 59%.
The team also interviewed 62 individuals about
their experiences trying to meet the needs of the
citizens of Virginia.
Local governments and state
agencies logged thousands of hours to protect life and
property and repair the damage. Power companies
worked around the clock to repair downed power lines.
In anticipation, VDOT officials had positioned
personnel and equipment to the areas expected to be
hardest hit before the storm got to land. The
report makes it clear that there were many things that
went very well, and that government responded well on
the whole. Yet, there were some things that could
have been done better.
The report found that
federal, state, and local agencies failed to
communicate with each other as well as they should, and
did not do a good job on the whole communicating with
the public. Communications were admittedly
hampered by massive power outages. Improvements in
communication and data management in the state’s
emergency operation center (EOC) were among the
recommendations.
Communication was also
hampered by a lack of a way to track local government
requests for assistance and to track the status of the
delivery of the requested product or service.
Another of the recommendations is that data
management in the EOC be improved with more
sophisticated consequence management software with
redundant communications and power backup.
The GIS proved its value in
many places before, during, and after Isabel. It
was, in fact used to track power outages and calls for
assistance at the local government level in more than
one jurisdiction. The lessons they learned may
help all of us the next time.
GIS, ISABEL, AND CHESTERFIELD
Chesterfield County was one
of two local governments that reported having used GIS
in its response to Isabel. The loss of power by
1.8 million Virginians was an extraordinary event.
People with special needs couldn’t
refrigerate medicine or power medical equipment.
