911 officials still see snow as emergency

Road and weather conditions have steadily improved since a second storm system dumped an additional 10 to 12 inches of snow on top of record snowfalls last week, but local 911 responders are still looking at blizzard recovery efforts as an emergency situation.

Army and Air National Guard troops and vehicles that were slated to leave Morgan County late last week have stayed on until the end of this week, responding to the request of 911 Director Dave Michael on behalf of local emergency agencies.

At the peak of the snowstorm, 61 Guard personnel and up to 15 Humvees worked in tandem with county fire and rescue teams to reach sick and stranded residents, respond to fires and check on neighbors, said Michael.
More Guard equipment was sent to the county to help with snow removal in the towns of Bath and Paw Paw.

In total, Morgan County was loaned two large front-end loaders, four small loaders, four dump trucks, a grader and a dozer to help move snow off of town streets, main roads and other public areas.

On Monday, some of the equipment was being used to plow private roads to reach people who hadn’t gotten out since the initial snowfall on Friday, February 5, and who needed help or supplies.

Michael requested more snow removal machines from the state that never came. “They simply didn’t have it,” he said.

In addition to moving snow, Guard personnel and equipment continues to deliver food and medicine to those still snowed in, especially in remote western parts of the county like Valley High Timber Farms, Magnolia and Rockford Road.

More than three dozen residents have called 911, asking for help to get supplies, refill prescriptions and get to doctors’ offices.

In one case, stranded residents got a delivery of medicine from a Maryland State Police helicopter, Michael said.

Rescue calls doubled
Morgan County Rescue Service Director John Corson said the squad’s call volume has doubled in the last week.

Many of the calls were people who would have gone to the doctor if they’d been able to get there, but whose conditions worsened without care.

In several cases, ambulance crews had to pull patients along the snow in a basket to get them in an emergency vehicle. Some patients were transported by Humvee, he said.

“For as messy as it’s been, it’s been great,” Corson said of the cooperation between agencies and the help from the Guard.

Years of emergency drills and planning have paid their dividends during this storm, he said.

“There’s zero doubt in my mind that we’d be facing many more deaths if we had not put that planning in place,” said Corson.

“We’ve given maximum effort. We couldn’t have given any more,” said Michael.

He anticipates operating in disaster response mode through the weekend, when he hopes road and weather conditions will improve significantly.

Federal money likely
Municipalities and emergency agencies in Morgan County will have to submit preliminary estimates of how much money they’ve spent dealing with the snowstorm and subsequent cleanup. Michael must send a preliminary disaster total to FEMA by Friday, he said.

In order to be eligible for a federal declaration of disaster, Morgan County agencies must spend more than $3.23 per person — or $48,266 — on snowstorm recovery. Michael said the county will easily cross that threshold.

“The Town of Bath has probably met that just in snow removal,” he said.
Included in the tally will be the cost of hiring private excavators and workers to remove snow and debris; overtime expenses for dispatchers, rescue workers, highway workers, maintenance staff and police.

Morgan County’s Department of Highways operations will also be included in the cost total, Michael said.

Reimbursements from the federal government come in the form of a 75% match to local expenditures, Michael said. In the past, the state has picked up the tab for county and town expenses.

Governor Joe Manchin’s scheduled visit to speak with Morgan County officials about the storm recovery on Monday was cancelled because of snow showers across the state. He held a phone conference instead with Eastern Panhandle officials.

Officials eye flood danger
Even when all county roads are cleared and residents can move around freely, local officials aren’t expecting a sense of relief.

Instead, they’re already bracing for the possibility of a flood when temperatures rise and the massive snow mounds begin to melt in earnest. Add some early spring rain into the mix and Michael sees a recipe for historic flooding.

“Conditions are ripe for a massive flood in the first part of March. It could rival the flood of ’96,” he predicted.

Town of Bath Mayor Susan Webster is also worried, particularly about municipal storm drains.

“Someday it will warm up and if the drains aren’t clear, we have a different disaster,” she said.