Reflections on a flood event

It has been an interesting couple of days. I don't think I have ever been in the middle of a "national natural disaster" before. Yes, there have been the snow storms ... but nothing like this.

One's perspective of the disaster (from inside) is often shaped by where you physically are. Baton Rouge as a city, and East Baton Rouge as a parish, are physically very large...much larger than the communities of the north and northeast with which I am most familiar. The parish is 470 square miles.

Historically, as in much of South Louisiana, the older parts of the city/settlement are on the higher ground. It is true in New Orleans, it is true in Baton Rouge.

We had been getting pretty regular rain for the past couple weeks. Daily showers/thunderstorms with a half-inch of rain or so. Not drenching, most of the time, but sometimes there were some pretty strong, but short, downpours. Thursday night to Friday was different. It was hard, steady rain over an extended period of time. This meant that Friday morning, there was a lot of water around, even in the older parts of the city. There was ponding, and drains that simply could not handle the volume. That happens. But, it kept raining. And raining, and raining.

Just for the record, the weather almanac in the Sunday paper (the only print one I buy) says that we have had 20.76 inches of rain this month (normal is 2.51) and since January 1, we have had 64.95 inches (normal is 38.57).

As the intensity of the storm lessened, the older parts of the city drained. It was not bad near where I live, and in downtown. The further out parts, however were beginning to see the accumulated run off. That is the flooding (as I believe) that we are seeing now.

I drove through some of the more eastern parts of the city today. (For me, that is east of Airline Highway.) There were places that had some water yesterday, that now had a lot of water. The Florida bridge of the water by Sharp Road was not quite flooded over, but a couple miles further the road *was* closed from flooding. I drove through some neighborhoods, trying to get around, and was unsuccessful. What those neighborhoods had in common was age - or lack thereof. Most seemed to be built in the 70s or more recently. They were part of the urban sprawl. Big houses, with big lawns, with spaces between them, and often a median down the street with trees. Yet at the same time, some of the drainage ditches closer in, had barely more water than normal for this time of year.

Those are some random thoughts. I have spent time over the past few days keeping the library's LibGuide on disasters up to date. There have been challenges in finding information on the web sites where you would normally expect to find them (Red Cross shelters, for instance). Some of that will become work to be done after the dust settles (? is that a bad metaphor?).

Disaster Management Plan: Steps in the Process

Stephen T. Brien is the CEO of EnviroCare is an expert in dealing with disaster issues, and is a forensic environmentalist. His presentation focused on archives.

Pre-disaster review: Locate and document the types of records and their current condition and the current building environment. From Iowa floods had 75 tractor trailer loads of documents. Make the decision on what you are planning to keep – in advance. It is possible to make some decisions after the freeze-drying process.

Identify the records which can be electronically reproduced. Make sure to get the political agreement within the organization.

You have to be smart about FEMA reimbursement. You can have an archive company which can understand and know the key players.

Evaluation includes visual inspection, moisture mapping, air sampling. Document photographically.

Talk with companies in advance and look at their physical plant. You need a group which can triage stuff for you (and without you).

Getting a baseline is critical. There will most likely be documents which you cannot recover, or cannot be recovered without huge expense.

Risks and resources outside the building include proximity to rivers and other bodies of water and nearby industrial sites (industrial demographics). It is important to know about resources in the community including highways and rail access, cold storage and refrigeration units, and warehouse space.

Create categories of documents:

• Category 1 shows little or no evidence of damage
• Category 2 shows visible evidence of damage but can be restored to a usable condition
• Category 3 shows visible evidence of extreme damage and should be discarded.

Disaster Management: The disaster has hit. No matter how well you plan, there will be problems.

Assess the scope of the disaster, what kind of event has happened and how widespread is the damage.

• Level I – the event is localized and containable. The building can remain open.
• Level II – is a single event that is contrainable. The building may or may not remain open, but can recover.
• Level III – is a catastrophic event that impedes the long term use.
  Determine damages, determine what resources are needed, develop protocols for the event, bring the resources to the table, and monitor to make sure that only needed services are provided. Make sure that you do not use only one firm for anything. Service providers may respond with what they have not necessarily what you need. You will be second guessed.
  

Moisture mapping is important. In some of the Florida disasters, the second floor may have mold and other damage from mold and other bacteria (graham-negative bacteria). Whoever is doing business with you needs to have pollution control insurance.

Why are we doing this? Wet materials are very time sensitive, the sooner the documents are dried the more favorable the results.

How to get paid for the disaster: Generally never see a FEMA person (employee), usually dealing with a consultant or contractor. You need to mitigate damages is the key. Make sure that resources and equipment are removed as soon as reasonable. The Clerk of the Works assists with reimbursement and documentation.

Go out now and talk with FEMA and other officials locally to be prepared in advance.