The training will help the city respond to and deal with major catastrophes and emergencies that affect large portions of the city, City Manager Mark Brandenburger said.
Such training also is required for municipalities to receive federal disaster relief funds.
The storm cost the city about $1.3 million in employees’ overtime, property damage and equipment rentals, $750,000 of which was reimbursed through FEMA, Brandenburger said.
The windstorm also exposed weaknesses in communications, between city officials and with residents and businesses.
While power remained out for days in several pockets of the city, some residents reportedly were unable to report outages or get updates on restoration efforts.
In the spring, the city’s electric department unveiled a new flow chart that maps out how information during power outages will be disseminated to elected officials, managers, fire and police divisions and to the community.
The city also is starting to use a reverse 911 dialing system in the event of emergencies, which will enable city officials to send out messages to residents’ home and cell phones.
Brandenburger said residents soon will see a “stuffer” in their utility bills asking them to provide one phone number that will be stored in the system’s database.
The windstorm nearly forced the city to dump tons of raw sewage into the river and its feeder streams because the water reclamation facility didn’t have a back-up power supply.
Public Works Director Ralph Reigelsperger said that prompted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to require the city to get a back-up power supply to prevent sewage overflows.
A generator will be installed at the plant next year as part of improvements to the sewage system, Reigelsperger said.
“The great thing about Ike was, it was just a windstorm. There was no rain associated with it, and that helped minimize the affects to the residents,” Reigelsperger said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
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