The Tulsa District’s Emergency Management Office hosted a disaster response exercise July 21, at the Central Center in Tulsa.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiative brought together representatives from Tulsa response agencies and organizations improve disaster response procedures and processes when communities along the Arkansas River below Keystone Dam and behind the Tulsa West-Tulsa Levee are impacted.
According to Bill Smiley, Chief of Emergency Operations for the Tulsa District, the multi-agency, cross functional teams will work together to improve interoperability and communication. “So today we’ll take analysis from engineering from the Corps of Engineers from the Tulsa Emergency Management, police, fire, health, leadership such as the mayor’s office and develop ways that we can work together to more effectively protect our communities.”
According to Joseph Kralicek, the director of Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, developing, executing, and refining emergency response plans will pay future dividends.
“This is necessary as part of our overall planning process. We take the information gathered from events such as this to help refine and improve our plans so that during an actual disaster we’re going into it as well planned and as well-thought out as possible for our response, So what you’re seeing here today is actually the precursor to an effective response tomorrow.”
The summer months are ripe for severe weather, and despite the presence of upstream structures, preparations an important part of flood risk reduction.
“Always understand there’s a flood risk downstream. Just because the dam is upstream, in this case Keystone, doesn’t mean that the downstream reach is immune from flooding,” said David Williams, Tulsa District Chief of Hydrology and Hydraulics Engineering. “Floods can and do occur and we’ve seen that recently and so it’s always important to plan for the next flood.”
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.27.2021 11:03 |
| Story ID: | 401797 |
| Location: | OK, US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tulsa District hosts disaster response exercise with Tulsa community responders, by Brannen Parrish, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT