As we come out of yet another large storm, I think we all owe a big thanks to all the town departments that played a critical part in the response and clean up to the storm that started Thursday afternoon. I know that I only got about 6 hours sleep between 7am on Thursday and yesterday afternoon, like most volunteers did.
I know that rescue crews, Highway crews and EMA were out and about Thursday afternoon. Then when flooding and winds started, the FD got very busy with wires down and flooded basements. Highway, fire and rescue crews helped clear debris from roads where they could, but so many poles and wires were down and roads were flooded, that both rescue and fire crews spent hours blocking roads also. Lebanon EMA did a great job setting up the Emergency Operations Center to direct all action to one central location. Tom Cravens and his staff did a great job through the entire storm.
Ray Davis and several road crews were out throughout the entire storm and then we got snow which added to the busy work they already had!!
Skip Wood and the fire department assisted with flooded basements and wires down and a lot of hours were spent!
Chief Samantha Cole and her volunteers went to over 250 houses door to door checking on people. They delivered drinking water, did well being checks, helped carry in wood to the elderly, delivered gas and kerosene for heaters and generators, helped deliver oxygen, blocked roads that were flooded, helped cut trees and remove trees from roads, and more. They also had multiple non-storm related rescue calls.
Town Clerk Laura Bragg and her husband Tony helped with gathering buckets for the rescue to deliver water to residents who could not flush toilets.
Recreation Director Jess Brewington and her family cooked a very large dinner for the volunteers who were out responding to calls and going door to door. This was the first home made meal any of us had in days and it was soooo good! We had a couple power crews stop into the station and also helped us eat!!
Now comes a lot of work for town hall crew with the bills and hopefully some federal assistance. They work hard to get all the information together with the EMA director and all the departments to ensure the town gets reimbursed if they declare this a federal disaster.
We had a lot of very positive remarks from the rescue facebook page where road closures, power info, shelter info and more were posted. Technology has changed to allow us to give real time info.
The rescue chief sent out an email update to about 1200 email addresses for Lebanon residents on Saturday. That was:
Lebanon Storm Update – Saturday 2/27/2010
Lebanon Rescue Department
To Our Lebanon Friends and Neighbors:
We hope if you are reading this, you are one of the lucky houses with power or generator. CMP advised that about 2/3rds of Lebanon is still without power this evening.
Today, Channel 6 news did a story on Lebanon and how hard it was hit. They did a great job with the story and caught up with some of the rescue volunteers that have already checked on over 200 houses in town, on top of having a very busy week. Click the link below to see the video:
If there is anything that we can do for you or your family, please contact us. We have information on deliveringave been delievering drinking water and water to flush toilets, helping residents with generators, helping shovel driveways for handicapped residents, carrying in wood for seniors to help with their stoves, helping a lot of patients who were running out of home medical oxygen and more. Volunteers started at 4:30pm on Thursday helping check and barricade flooded roads to helping block closed roads. By going door to door, we have found medical emergencies in which they had no phone to call us.
We also used our Facebook site to relay to residents real-time road closures and other important information. This plus our website seemed to be a great tool to get information out. We also received several calls from family members who live out of state who read the infoface bookwebsite and facebook and needed us to check on their family.
Lebanon Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Cravens and his wonderful staff have been out since the rain and wind started. They coordinated efforts for the shelter and arranging buses for those who may need it. They have been a very critical part in this storm and the very positive results we have received.
Lebanon Fire Chief Skip Wood and his wonderful volunteers have been out with trees down, flooded basements and power line issues. They have been very busy and we have assisted them with various events around town.
Lebanon Road Commissioner Ray Davis and his crews have been out also since Thursday trying to reopen roads and clear them as soon as possible. Today they had the extra task of the very slippery snow.
Staff from the Lebanon Town Hall have also been out and about and assisting.
These events are a team response and I think it has gone very well and everyone worked together very well.
Please use extra caution with alternative heating sources and generators. Please make sure they are properly ventilated and located in safe area. Please remember to have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your house, and that they have battery back-up.
Looking forward it looks like the potential for another storm with wind and snow/rain this Monday. Please remember to restock any supplies you may have used for this event.
On behalf of all the volunteers with the Lebanon Rescue Department, we hope that everything is ok, but if we can help in anyway, please call us. You can contact us at (207) 608-5615.
I would like to extend an extra special thanks to the volunteers who have been out there almost 18 hours a day since Thursday helping their neighbors. I am very proud to lead such a great group of dedicated and caring people.
Sincerely,
Samantha Cole
Rescue Chief
So a big thank you to everyone who brought food by the station, stopped a volunteer and thanked them. A big thank you to all the town workers and volunteers who did so much and proved why we live in such a great community!!
I personally would like to thank ALL of the volunteers who helped out during this storm. It was a most traumatic experience. It felt good to have the lebanon rescue people stop by to make sure we were ok.
Just for FYI the citizens who live on Sewells Shore Road are STILL without power. Please, please check on them………………..
The rescue folks also checked on my family and it was so nice knowing someone was out there checking on people. We had no power for almost 5 days and they came by 2 times and delivered drinking water to us. They truly showed what a great town we live in!