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Dubuque County Emergency Management July 11-12, 2017 Storm Recovery Efforts Report Copyrighted August 7, 2017 City of Dubuque Consent Items # 5. ITEM TITLE: Dubuque County Emergency Management July 11-12, 2017 Storm Recovery Efforts SUMMARY: City Manager transmitting correspondence from Emergency Management Coordinator Tom Berger related to recovery efforts for the storm on July 11 and July 12, 2017. SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File ATTACHMENTS: Description Type Staff Memo Staff Memo EMERGENCY 14928 Public Safety Way Dubuque, IA 52002-8216 4NAGEMENT Phone: 563-589-4170 Fax: 563-589-00150015 DUBUQUE COUNTY E-Mail: dbgemagyousq.net Thomas I. Berger, Director Mike Wuertzer, Chairperson Dan Neenan, Vice-Chairperson Date: 07-21-2017 To: Mike Wuertzer, Dubuque County EMA Commission Chair Mike Van Milligen,City Manager Jay Wickham, Dubuque County Supervisor From: Thomas I. Berger, EMA Coordinator Subject: 07-11-2017/07-12-2017 Storm recovery efforts Background Eastern Dubuque County suffered a severe thunderstorm event on Tuesday,July 11th and early July 12th, 2017. Widespread rainfall of 3"was received North and East of a line from Luxemburg to the airport area. Some areas near Dubuque received 4+". With the third storm warning in the early hours of July 12th, one or more"Downbursts" caused winds in excess of 75 MPH to cause major tree damage and power outages in Eastern Dubuque County to include the cities of Asbury and Dubuque as well as surrounding areas. Durango and Sageville experienced flooded roads and road closures. The heritage trail experienced heavy damage due to washouts. Discussion The Dubuque County Emergency Management Agency initiated a volunteer response to assist elderly, disabled and other citizens who needed help with tree debris removal. The United Way of East Central Iowa was contacted to collect citizen information through the 211 call center and relay requests to the Emergency Management Coordinator. Volunteer chainsaw teams from the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church and St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids spent 4 days in the area cutting debris from the storm. United Way of Dubuque Area Tri-states coordinated two volunteer work details in which storm debris was removed from properties and placed curbside for crews to haul away. This included volunteers from United Way, Americorp, Boy Scouts,John Deere and the second day consisted of twenty football players from the Wahlert High School. The American Red Cross of NE Iowa provided the lunch and refreshments for the volunteers. The Emergency Management Agency received 50 calls for assistance from Dubuque County residents. The majority of the requests were located within the city of Dubuque, but we did have requests from rural residents and three requests from the Asbury residents. Our chainsaw teams volunteered 119 hours over the span of 4 days. The cleanup crews volunteered a total of 110 hours over three days. Of the 50 calls for service, we were able to assist 25 of them with cutting and/or debris removal. 16 people we were unable to assist due to the situation or our volunteers not having the appropriate equipment. This would include trees hanging over bluffs,tree limbs high in the trees or other dangerous situations. The crew only works from the ground as they do not have a bucket truck and ropes/cables to reach very high. The remaining 9 sites were cleaned prior to our arrival or no longer needed our service. The volunteers were outstanding and helped many citizens who were unable to recover on their own. The United Way of Dubuque Area Tri States staff did an outstanding job mobilizing the volunteer clean up crews. City crews should also be commended on their hard work in picking up debris. Requested Action This above is for information purposes only. On Thursday,July 20t1 we received our last request for assistance. The volunteers were able to assist the homeowner with debris removal. The 211 call center will forward any requests to the Emergency Management Agency for review on a case by case basis. At this point,from the original windstorm there is probably no longer a need for the volunteer resources and I would consider this effort complete.