Plan in works to mitigate disaster damage to county

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Saline County has dealt with flooding before. Usually flood damage is somewhat predictable because officials know the lowest areas where flooding can be expected and keep track of river stages.

But most of the time the flooding is caused by backwaters making their way down the Ohio River, causing the Saline River and its tributaries to rise over their banks. Emergency workers can predict roughly when this type of flooding will happen and can sound the alarm for sandbagging early.

The 2008 flood was a different beast caused by 11 1/2 inches of rain falling on saturated ground.

"Nobody knew we were going to get that much rain," Saline County Emergency Management Agency Director Allan C. Ninness.

"In river flooding there are known areas. We know where the water line is going to be. This has never happened before."

Ninness heard during a flood up north last year there were 30 to 40 adults installing a wall of 3,500 sandbags around a single house and it took a full day's work. With that amount of labor required and no advance notice on the massive amount of water, large scale sandbagging of all the businesses and houses was an impossibility.

As the waters crept up Harrisburg firefighters and city workers were able to sandbag at Brookstone Estates, Saline Care Center, Medicine Shoppe and Reed's Funeral Chapel.

Then residents of Brookstone Estates were evacuated and bussed to Comfort Inn. They had to be evacuated again to Dorrisville Baptist Church after the hotel was threatened with flooding.

"I can almost guarantee you that's never going to happen again," Ninness said.

Throughout the night and into the following day the floodwaters rose. Eventually, over 80 businesses received damage.

"We didn't know what businesses would be affected," Ninness said.

As the waters began to recede, businesses owners and residents were able to reach their buildings to find, in some cases, merchandise floating in channels down aisles. The awful reality set in. Though a few municipalities within the county were enrolled into the National Flood Insurance Program, neither the county nor Harrisburg were enrolled. Business and flooded county residents could not expect flood insurance.

"I'm glad Harrisburg did join the National Flood Insurance Program and Saline County did as well," Ninness said.

"There's the obvious reason, that people are able to buy flood insurance, also there is the mitigation plan for the county. Once the plan is done we can apply for mitigation money."

Ninness is working with other officials in the county in developing a mitigation plan.

"A mitigation plan regards all hazards, not just flooding, but fire, severe weather, earthquakes. It should cover all forseeable disasters that could affect the area," Ninness said.

The mitigation plan should give a good picture of the county's most important hazards and its vulnerabilities. It will include information like the number of shelters, whether there is a need to tie down utility lines and whether there is a need to install film on windows in classroom to protect students from shattering glass. As far as flooding it will take into account the businesses and homes affected by flooding, the frequency of damaging floods, where transportation problems were and the fact that both Carrier Mills and Galatia lost water service due to the flood impact.

"This is a plan to help lessen the effects of disasters that may or may not occur whereas the disaster plan is a plan of action on what we're going to do," Ninness said.

Though the dollar amount of flood damage did not qualify the county for Federal Emergency Management Agency money after the county applied for it and appealed the initial rejection, the paperwork documenting the damage provides important information for the mitigation plan.

"The hardest part for me was talking to people who were affected who are on fixed income, whose homes were damaged and who didn't have insurance. It is hard to explain there is no help when they see help in other disasters. The dollar loss threshold number just didn't make it there with the flood even though the area was devastated," Ninness said.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.