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By John Fisher
In the ice storm of December 2007 almost 59,000 homes and
businesses were without power in the Northwest Missouri area which included the
towns of St. Joseph, Maryville, Savannah, Tarkio. Ice ranged from more than a
half-inch in St. Joseph to 2 inches farther north, said Tom Kelley, Aquila's
regional manager. More than 1 million people were without power from Oklahoma to
Illinois ("We've never...", 2008).
"From my perspective, we've never had a storm like that hit
our entire system," Kelley said. The electric utility and weather services
sent out press releases to warn people to be ready for the storm, but no one
was really prepared when the storm hit Tuesday, December 11.
At Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville 7000 students
were preparing to take exams. About 90 percent of the students were from
outside the region and were anticipating going home for the holidays. Almost
2000 students lived in campus housing, while the remainder rented apartments in
Maryville. A smaller number commuted on a daily basis.
Fortunately, at the University power never did go off. However,
classes were cancelled. It was dangerous to walk across campus, not only because
trees blocked the sidewalks, but the walkways were so icy no one could stand
up. After a couple of days highways and
roads were sanded and salted so that students could go home. In the meantime,
food supplies ran low in the town and the campus cafeteria.
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| Northwest Missouri State University photo |
A shelter was set up in the National Guard Armory on the west side
of campus. Guardsmen went door-to-door throughout the community and rural area checking
on people and helping those without resources, mainly older people, to move to
the shelter.
My wife and I lived in Maryville, where I taught for the university.
We never lost our telephone land-line, but our electric power was off for four
or five days. With temperatures well below freezing, the house soon became chilly
inside. We slept in our family room where we had a gas fireplace. From a call
to my wife’s brother in West Virginia, we learned how to by-pass the electric
switch in order to light the gas. We had
plenty of can goods in the basement, but didn’t have a way to cook food – not even
a camp stove. We were concerned about the food in our freezer and fridge. Thankfully,
power came back on before we had to move the freezer food outside. On the
second day, we were able to get to the campus, where members of our church
gathered for the next three or four evenings in a classroom for potlucks and movies.
The electric utility learned from a December 1994 ice storm where
15,000 homes and businesses lost power from up to a quarter-inch of ice. In
1994, the electric utility didn't appear to fully grasp the extent of the
damage on the first day, when it said they would have power on within a day. In
fact, it took six days. Aquila Light & Power brought in about 180 linemen,
most in from other area utilities.
Kelley described the 1994 response as "more reaction instead
of being ready." In 2007 the utility was somewhat better prepared.
In 2007, Aquila issued a press release in the hours leading up to
the storm that it had 90 electrical workers and 85 tree trimmers en route to
Northwest Missouri from other areas. Within three days, Aquila had 275 tree
trimmers and 667 electrical workers involved in the recovery effort in Northwest
Missouri, including 454 contract electrical workers from other companies. Still it took over a week to get power on in some areas.
The major reason for power failure is tree limbs falling on power
lines. Also, power lines sag and break because of extra weight. The electric utility has a 4-5 year rotation where they clear limbs 8
feet around power lines, mostly so trees don’t grow into the lines. This is not enough
to prevent damage from falling trees or limbs in an ice storm.
When I talked to the campus police chief afterwards, he admitted
that the University was “just plain lucky.” If power had gone off on the university
campus, if temperatures were lower, and the ice storm had been longer, conditions
could have been very bad for students and the community. University officials
had deliberated about sending students home, when they were warned about the
ice storm. They had a window of about three hours when they could have done
that on Tuesday morning, but they hesitated and their indecision meant students
would have to stay on campus for two or three more days while they waited for road
conditions to improve. As it happened, exams
were cancelled and had to be re-scheduled in the new year.
A side effect to the university was damage to the trees on campus. The Missouri State Legislature named Northwest the official state arboretum in 1993. The Northwest campus features more than 1,800 trees and more than 150 species. In the ice storm of December 2007, 40 perecnt of the trees were damaged or destroyed. Students, employees, alumni and community members purchased 275 new trees to be planted on campus (Roush, 2015; Northwest, 2018).
Lessons learned
Officials and the public generally underestimate the possible
severity of weather conditions. Typically communities are unprepared, underfunded, and
lack resources for major emergencies and disasters. In Superstorm Sandy, it
took two to three weeks for stores to reopen and utilities to get services back
online. Government officials seem to be unwilling to make the tough decisions to prepare our nation, states, and communities for disasters. Also, the public has a feeling of malaise or apathy. This won't happen to me, they say. If something does happen, the government will take care of me. They have an attitude that first responders will always there to help.
We can prepare for and mitigate to handle natural disasters like floods, wildland fires, storms, and even earthquakes, but it requires hard decisions like not building or living in the path of disasters. In the case of ice storms, we need to put all power underground or cut down all trees near power lines. Every municipality needs reserves of sand and salt and the equipment to keep roads clear and maintained. Every state, every municipality should have funds in reserves to deal with catastrophes. And they need to do a better job of working with the private sector to deal with and mitigate against disasters.
Such was the case in the ice storm of December 2007. Officials underestimated the severity of the storm. The city of
Maryville (with a permanent population of 11,000) had a budget of only $25,000 for the
entire year for street maintenance. Most of it was used in the ice storm (LeCerf, 2008). The
city has no reserves for these kind of contingencies. This is typical for other
communities and municipalities throughout the country. Reserves in terms of
money, personnel, and equipment should be available in every municipality, even
required. Training of community members (using courses like CERT) should be pushed,
because first responders cannot help everyone in major emergencies and
disasters. Debris clean-up is another
matter that has long-term impact on the people and the resources of the community.
University officials were derelict in their responsibility for
students under their care during the 2007 ice storm. Rather than focusing on the
impact of having no exams, they should have considered the possible impact of a
major ice storm on their students. Planning and exercising for these kinds of
situations would prepare university officials to make these hard decisions. Since
2007 Northwest Missouri State University has closed its cafeteria, turning food
services over to fast food vendors. The university no longer has a way of
taking care of the food needs of their students over a long period of time. Training and exercises needs to be a part of
the regular routine of staff, faculty, and students at universities and
colleges.
As a family, we were unprepared for an ice storm. Fortunately,
after four days the electrical power came back on. Had the effects of the storm lasted
longer, we would have been in trouble. While we have a food supply, we had no
water surplus; no way of cooking food, nor keeping really warm. We would have
suffered if the storm had lasted a week or even longer. As families, we need at
least three weeks of food and water on hand. We also need to have a way of keeping
warm and cooking if we have to shelter-in-place. We would do well to practice
for handling catastrophes. A three-day camp out at home in the midst of winter,
with no power or gas or water or cell phones, would be a great way to test our
resources and resiliency. A 72-hour disaster supply kit is not enough if a
disaster happens.
References
LeCerf, M. (2008, January). December Ice Storm: Overview and Clean-up
Efforts. Retrieved from http://www.maryville.org/docview.aspx?docid=28687
Roush, C. (2015, August 4). Northwest Arboretum makes "Top
50" list. Maryville Forum. Retrieved from http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/news/article_7eeac5d0-3ab1-11e5-88ab-3b6bc32bc783.html
Northwest Missouri State University. (2018). Welcome to the
Missouri Arboretum.. Retrieved from https://www.nwmissouri.edu/arboretum/index.htm
"We've never had a storm like that": Lessons learned
from '94 storm helped shape Aquila's efforts. (2008, January 6). St. Joseph
News Press. . Retrieved from http://www.newspressnow.com/news/we-ve-never-had-a-storm-like-that/article_199dda26-f34e-52de-b951-6da4666287aa.html
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