Storm reaction

Impresssed with positive spirit

Gary Allsup
Building Inspector, City of Lacey
Local 618-L

I participated in building evaluations for life and safety issues for the City of Centralia on December 8 and 9. Our team looked at about 75 structures over the two days. There were an estimated 500 homes in the flood area within the city limits.

We experienced everything from "no damage" to water that was 5 feet to 6 feet deep in the building. Those that had taken advantage of earlier flood programs and had elevated their stuctures were safe.

I was also impressed with the positive spirit shown by people. "We'll get it cleaned up." "Repairs are under way." "I have help."

Our efforts were as much public relations work as building inspection. Everyone had a story.

Our workers did a heck of a job

Ron Hebish
President, Local 367-R, City of Raymond

When the storm hit, our area was out of power for four days, the longest outage I have known in my 23 years here. During that time we kept the water running and prevented the sewer system from overflowing by moving mobile generators from one place to another.

We also lost the roof on our shop and had to move equipment to prevent it from being flooded. All the time we had to work under sustained strong winds that blew for 40 hours.

Our people were great. Many of us worked up to 42 hours overtime in four days. Some suffered personal damage, but they put that behind them until the emergency was over.

They did a heck of a job.

Worked long hours to assist victims

Sheri Wold
President, Local 1341-S, Lewis County

Our members assisted flood victims in a variety of ways, spending much time listening to their stories and linking them with aid agencies, such as the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Associaton (FEMA). Many people had lost everything.

Two members, Jill Kangas and Lisa Arthur, who work in the Emergency Management Office, worked around the clock and others worked extended hours.

Although we are involved with a lot of paperwork in the Services Bureau of the sheriff's office, most of this work was new to us as we were unfamiliar with the forms involved, some of which were complex. But we jumped in and helped as much as we could.

Sending a helping hand to the south

Paul Clerget
President Local 618-O, City of Olympia

During the aftermath of the storm we sent two of our 10-yard trucks and a couple of loaders to South Thurston County to help in clean-up efforts in the Rochester area. The area originally was not given FEMA relief up front.

We spent two or three days down there helping with the clean-up and fallout from the flooding.

Many of our members put in extensive overtime as a result of the storm.

How we saved houses from being flooded

Aric Mickelson
President, Local 618-L, City of Lacey, Department of Transportation

During the day of the storm we spent a lot of time clearing water off streets that were under water. In that way, we saved many houses from being flooded.

We used vactor trucks to extract water that flooded the streets when the drains became blocked or could not cope with the runoff.

The trucks, which can each hold 2,000 gallons of water, are usually used to clean up catch basins, but proved extremely useful in removing water from the streets.

Several of the trucks operated non-stop for many hours.

Trina Young
Council 2 Staff Representative

I represent members who work in several of the counties that were hit hardest by the storm in December, including Lewis, Thurston and Pacific County. Thurston and Lewis counties were stricken with flood damage and Pacific County was hit with extremely high winds.

I drove to South Bend in Pacific County on the Friday after the storm and I can’t even describe the magnitude of the damage I saw. The closest I have to compare it to are the photos we saw when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, of millions of trees laying in rows like toothpicks.

It is truly amazing to see huge trees, some that are up to 5 feet in diameter, that have been broken in half by the hurricane forces of the wind and entire stands of timber laying on the ground. In some places the trees fell across roadways on both sides so that it created a tunnel that made the roads impassible before road crews could clear them away.

The Pacific County weather station’s wind gauge broke after recording a gust of 149 mph. There were numerous mudslides and bridges washed out. Our members were out working in those conditions, trying to clear roads only to have more trees fall as soon as they were done.

They also had to do emergency road repairs to fix washouts caused by stormwater runoff, rising rivers and mudslides. Some workers were “loaned” to other counties; some had their duties diverted to help out in shelters and soup kitchens.

The Pacific County Public Works members were out working at the height of the storm.

Crews were removing downed trees from the roadways to ensure public access and they worked with the PUD crews to clear debris and trees from power lines. They also did temporary road building to repair washouts in the roadways. The cleanup operations for this county will continue for several more weeks.

Pacific County assessor's vehicle damaged in storm

Members help in shelters, soup kitchens

Deb Kelly
President, Local 367-C, Pacific County Courthouse

Several of our union members worked in the Emergency Operations Center for many 12-hour days. Road crews worked 10- to 15-hour days cleaning up fallen trees and repairing roads.

Because the annex and South County buildings were closed, many staff were assigned to help out in shelters and soup kitchens. The staff members also took press releases to the newspapers in Oregon and went door-to-door with flyers.