Hurricane preparedness key, Dale EMA says

There are five Hurricane Impact Zones in Alabama. With Zone 1 having the highest potential impact from any landfilling hurricane and Zone 5 having the least, the Wiregrass area sits in Zone 2.

“There is a major probability of damaging inland winds including resultant tornadoes and straight line winds,” said Dale County Emergency Management Agency Director Willie Worsham. “Flooding in low areas is highly possible and there is a critical impact to our area from evacuees from the Florida Panhandle, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Worsham met May 23 with area elected officials, law enforcement and recovery organization representatives at the Alabama Aviation College for “Dale County 2022 Hurricane Briefing.”

The purpose of the meeting, Worsham explained, is that through teamwork and open communications, the county will be best prepared to face impending natural disasters. “Our purpose is to discuss how we are all going to work together to get back to full mission capability,” he said. “I want all of us to work together.

“People, I really need to know what is going on with your agency,” Worsham said. “EMA tracks and reports lifelines and requests resourcing with input from area mayors and the commission chairman, the county administrator, city manager, engineering and public works departments, Alabama Department of Transportation, law enforcement, fire rescue personnel, schools, hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes, the coroner, power companies and the Alabama Department of Public Health.”

Worsham said that the Community Lifeline concept was developed after response to the natural disasters in 2017 “identified the need to create a new operational prioritization and response tool which would characterize the incident and identify the root causes of priority issue areas in order to create effective solutions and distinguish the highest priorities and most complex issues.”

Worsham said Community Lifeline enables the continuous operation of government functions, critical business and is essential to human health and safety or economic security. “In an emergency situation, decision makers must rapidly determine the scope, complexity and interdependent impacts of an incident,” Worsham said. “Applying the Lifeline model allows decision-makers to rapidly determine the scope of whether an incident is large, complicated or complex; to prioritize and focus response efforts to maintain or restore the most critical services and infrastructure; and to insure that limited resources can go toward a common goal across the whole community.”

Worsham said he is currently updating and consolidating the county’s hazard mitigation plan and working to obtain a grant to initiate a Citizen Emergency Response Team program in Dale County.

“Make sure you let me know all the things going on in your organization,” he urged those attending the meeting. “All of Alabama has the potential for inland wind damage and flooding from rains associated with tropical storms and hurricanes.”