Press Release:
My heart goes out to Lawrence County residents who are still recovering from the EF 3 tornado that swept through the northwest corner of our county on December 23. Thank goodness no lives were lost in the storm.
We cannot control nature, but we can prepare for the worst and be ready to respond quickly in the aftermath. I feel confident that the professionals and volunteers who worked before, during, and after our recent storms are among the best in the state, if not the nation.
It is an experienced group. Lawrence County’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Joe Baxter tells me they have been through 16 Presidentially-declared disasters over the past 25 years. Assessments are underway now to determine whether the December 23 storm will qualify for federal assistance.
Baxter took me through the steps that prepare us for serious weather events. “We knew December 23 would be a risky day,” he said. The El Nino weather pattern is creating a warm, wet winter and puts us at risk for damaging storms through early Fall this year.
“First, we got our heads together,” he said. Representatives from all emergency service providers – fire departments, ambulance, 911 – gathered at the Emergency Operations Center for a conference call with the National Weather Service.
Later that day, the Lawrence County SkyWarn Network was activated with spotters deployed to watch for tornadoes in areas identified based on radar images of storms moving into Lawrence County.
The Skywarn Network is headed up by EMA Deputy Director Shelton Barnett, and Public Information Officer Bill Phillips, who communicate with amateur radio operators and relay information back to the National Weather Service to assist in the warning process.
Network members are trained by EMA and the National Weather Service (NWS) as weather spotters. In fact, their annual training session was conducted December 22 by a Meteorologist from Nashville’s office of the NWS. Based on the latest radar information, these volunteers are sent out to areas where bad weather is expected, and report on what they see.
Lawrence County was the first EMA in the state to have its own weather radar terminal provided by Huntsville’s Baron Services, and helped promote the idea to other EMA’s.
Lawrence County also led the effort to raise funds and build a NOAA weather radio station in 1996, which provides warnings to seven counties in the southern middle Tennessee area. This project was undertaken after Lawrence County was hit by strong tornadoes in 1994 and 1995, with no warnings available other than television news services.
The weather radio station was dedicated over to the National Weather Service for operation, and recently had a new transmitter installed. It is located at a former Tennessee Forestry Service site in southern Maury County, and also provides the signals for the emergency broadcast system.
These things work together to raise citizen awareness of dangerous weather and provide warnings as quickly as possible through the media and emergency alert radios.
It appeared that Lawrence County might escape damage, but the very last cell produced a tornado that caused the extensive damage in the Lutts community in Wayne County and in Lawrence County.
Once the storm passed, the first priority is always “lifesaving,” Baxter said.
The fire departments, emergency medical, and law enforcement agencies were ready to hit the ground running to search the damage path for injured or trapped people. This job includes working to clear roads of trees to allow emergency help to get through, and work with the Lawrenceburg Utilities System to deal with downed power lines.
Lawrence County had enjoyed nearly 20 years without major weather events until the 1990’s, when a succession of floods, tornadoes, and ice storms tested the resolve of Lawrence County’s citizens and emergency workers.
Baxter regards the 1994 Ice Storm and the 1998 Flood as the most challenging of all the events, but said the experience has made Lawrence County more resilient in the long run.
“We learned a lot and have a lot of experienced people that know what they have to do, and I have the good fortune to have the most outstanding help of any EMA Director in the state,” Baxter said.
Baxter said he is most grateful to the staff addition of Shelton Barnett, a former fireman who adds a great deal of capabilities to the agency.
“We take pride in the fact that we rarely have to ask for help for most emergency situations and disasters,” said Baxter. “If we do need help, we can call on TEMA and get assistance from other counties and cities, and we also get called to help others with some of our skilled people and equipment.”
One of those times Lawrence County needed help was the February 1994 Ice Storm, when the governor authorized National Guardsmen to help with generators to power shelters and assist dairy farms with power to milk cows, preventing a heavy economic loss.
More recent ice storms have showed that the Lawrenceburg Utility System has greatly reduced to the vulnerability to Ice Storms, and most farmers have their own generators, learning the lessons of the past.
Lawrence County also learned hard lessons from the Flood of 1998, which spurred the largest engineering project in Lawrenceburg history.
The work took more than ten years and $14 million, but $9 million came from grants, and government workers did most of the work.
While nothing can be built big enough to match nature’s fury, the threat of flood damage in the downtown area has been virtually eliminated. Beautiful parks now inhabit where flooded neighborhoods were, and drainage systems collect and carry stormwater away that once blocked roads and flooded homes that were nowhere near Shoal Creek.
Lawrenceburg City leaders had already been put on notice about the destructive potential of flooding after an event on Memorial Day, 1991 passing a new storm water management ordinance requiring all new businesses to have detention ponds. Parking lots and buildings cover ground that can soak up rainwater, so flooding becomes an issue if there’s no place for the water to go. The runoff from the Murray Ohio facility was a primary source of water that flooded the North Military/Rotary Park area in 1998.
The sheer volume of rain that day, though, overwhelmed every system the city had. Flood waters and Shoal Creek itself entered dozens of homes and businesses. Recovery included the purchase of 50 affected properties.
The comprehensive flood control project called for two detention ponds and 2.2 miles of underground and open channels to replace an old and inadequate storm water drainage system. Work began on the south side of Highway 64 near Coffman Middle School and concluded with a connector from the north side of the highway in June, 2015.
While Baxter can call on many of who have helped further the flood control project, he singled out Lawrenceburg contractor Don Sweeton as a vital contributor.
“His company DASCO was the successful bidder on several of our contracts, but he personally was out there on a piece of equipment setting box culverts,” said Baxter.
Some “cosmetic” work remains on the channel and a ditch that drains North Military Avenue, but the system is working at full capacity, the final bottleneck cleared with the channel crossing on East Gaines near Coffman School.
Emergency management has also improved overall with help from the Homeland Security Grant Program.
As part of the seven-county District 8 in South Central, Tennessee, Lawrence County has received several million dollars to purchase command and communications vehicles as well as a hazardous materials response unit that is “second to none.”
The counties in the district assist each other with providing equipment and personnel for disasters as well as large public events. Lawrence County’s Command and Communications Trailer is now deployed at Lutts in Wayne County.
Lawrence County also has a bus equipped with advanced technology to serve as a command post, and has the most advanced equipment available to assist in response to a hazardous materials event.
The work of disaster preparedness is never really finished, and will continue on to other areas that need protection against flooding and storms.
Projects like putting safe rooms in schools, and reducing the damage from flooding will always be on the horizon in Emergency Management.
I hope recovery happens sooner rather than later for our latest storm victims. If you would like to assist those who have lost much, donations can be sent to a fund established for disaster victims by WLX radio, “X Cares.” Donations may be mailed to the station at 1212 North Locust Avenue, Lawrenceburg.