Understanding how the most powerful tornado in North Texas history affected the cities of Rowlett and Garland, how these communities recovered, and lessons learned.

1. "Planning for Resiliency in North Texas"
Understanding how the most powerful tornado in North Texas history
affected the cities of Rowlett and Garland, how these communities
recovered, and lessons learned.
Jim Proce, ICMA-CM, PWLF, MBA
Bowman Consulting Group, Dallas, Texas
Building Professionals Institute Conference
Irving Texas.

2. Objectives
• Provide strong leadership during an unplanned emergency event
• Leverage community and agency resources for timely and effective
response
• Examine how to develop and implement a mutual aid structure to
provide support during emergencies
• And anything else we might think is relevant on the topic that you
might want to chat about…

3. Stuff to talk about…
• Preplanning – relationships, mutual aid agreements, working with
other communities, preparedness
• Emergency Operations Plan (exercises, planning and preparation)
• Consortiums of staff and/or equipment (loaning people, resources,
equipment pools)
• Utilizing contractors and contracts
• Flow of communication, communications plan, community outreach
• Background stories and things you should know or plan for… and
more…

4. December 26, 2015
• Staff was staged
• EOC staffed at 2:00PM
• Monitoring the weather all afternoon
• Communicating with team
• Business as usual = MEANS: we didn't
expect a HIT
• Impact 6:45PM - EF-4 tornado
• Within minutes after the impact our
EOC was fully activated
• Working through the night we
immediately began assessing
conditions
• It was evident that we were in for an
adventure…
Jim

12. Path of
Destruction
• 3.5 miles long
• Half mile wide debris
field
• 1110 homes affected
• 19 commercial
facilities
• DMN Video:
https://youtu.be/Aak
mu8-02c8

13. Preplanning for the Unknown
• Things which are crucial to your success
• Table top exercises
• Relationships
• Mutual aid
• Working with other communities and agencies
• Understanding the rules and processes
• Overcoming unforeseen obstacles and challenges
• Preparation is key
• Determining who is part of your planning and responses teams?
• And more…

14. Table Top Exercise
A tabletop exercise was held
on September 28, 2015
Many similarities between the
TTX scenario and the impacts
from the December 26th
tornado
Formation, path, and
intensity of the tornado
I-30 incident
Post-impact response
issues
Recovery issues
Key Takeaway: Make the most
out of every exercise!

15. Relationships
• City, Special Districts, County, State, DOT, FEMA
• Who are these folks and how will you find them?
• Engage your neighbors and other agencies formally and informally
• Professional Associations (APWA)
• MPOs, Council of Governments
• Public Works Emergency Response Team (PWERT)
• Other Agencies
• Historical
• Archeological
• Understand what others are doing (neighbors)
• Obtain and share copies of contracts for resources (but don’t use them
without legal review)

16. Mutual Aid
• Formal agreements
• Public Safety is common
• What about Public Works?
• Informal agreements
• Can you lend a helping hand? (without getting into trouble?)
• Public Works Emergency Response Team (PWERT)

17. SO Many Rules…
• Do you know the rules?
• Does your emergency manager know the rules?
• Does your team know the rules?
• When do the rules go into effect? Does it matter?
• Do you have contracts, agreements, and resources in place?
• Are your purchasing folks up to date on the regulations?
• DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING FORGRANTED!
• Assume the answer to all of these is NO and check annually!

18. Reference Materials – Stuff You Need
• FEMA Guidance Documents
• Contacts for State agencies– Who are these guys (and what do they do when
during times when there is no emergency?)
• TCEQ
• THC
• TDEM
• Prepare for Regulatory Invasion
• ACOE
• OSHA
• Designated staff for records management
• City staff
• Temps
• Consultants – We hired to navigate the reams of paperwork

19. Preparation
• Are you ready?
• Are you ever ready?
• Good teams know their roles!
• Things we do ahead of the event
• Maps
• Duty rosters
• Schedules
• Supplies
• ESF/Annexes
• Training – ICS
• Staging of equipment and resources (before event if possible)

20. Challenges…
• Public Works staff unfamiliar with “the
process”
• What exactly are 214s?
• Documentation
• Photographs
• Receipts
• Purchasing requirements
• Who will be accountable?
• Thousands of volunteers on the ground
• Who is responsible for these folks?
• And does it even matter?

21. Unexpected Challenges (that you should
expect)
• Employee departures and turnover
• Landfill overwhelmed
• Promises made by FEMA and State
reps
• Staging areas – are they
preapproved?
• Tires – where are you getting
them?
• Fuel – who is watching the store?
• Paint cans?
• Tipping Fees?

22. Challenges
• Garland Landfill was initially unable to handle our volumes
• Garland put limits as they were dealing with their own piece of the tornado
• This resulted in our staging of materials
• Then we ran out of space at the first space and needed to secure a second
site
• Then reduction through use of a tub grinder, sorting, & recycling
• Negotiate tipping fees? Conversion rates? Units of measures…

23. Challenges…
• High Expectations in the Community
• This should take a week or two to clean
up… right?
• 4 months later… over 100 homes yet to
be touched
• Going forward… we will be the bad guys
through code enforcement
• What are you doing with that water
tower???
• And the decision is…

24. Challenges…
• Acquisition of resources
• Tub grinder used to reduce vegetative (5 to 1 reduction ratio)
• Loaders & Trucks to load &haul
• Staff– additional temps to back fill routine work
• Maneuvering the red tape
• THC
• TDEM
• FEMA
• TCEQ
• Permitting & Contractors
• DPS recommendation
• Fraudulent activities
• Subject to injunctive relief (consult an attorney)

25. Contracts
• Consortiums and other agreements
• Prepositioned – FEMA compliance
• FEMA Certified? What is that?
• Rights to landfill access
• HAZMAT
• Fuel and tires and fuel and tires and fuel…
• Negotiated costs?
• Legal advice – your city attorney…? Is he the right guy? He may tell
you he is, but how can you be sure? Assume he is NOT!

26. Damage Assessments
Damage assessments were expedited through the use of GPS units
Preliminary damage assessments with FEMA/TDEM teams were made easier
through the use of GIS maps
• 1110 homes – numbers went up
• 298 vehicles towed
• Damaged drainage systems
• Traffic signal and signs
• Road and utility impact –
• 2 trains of thought are in play
FEMA/TDEM PDA 01/02/16

28. FEMA/TDEM Recovery Process
Public Assistance Alternate Procedures Pilot Program?
• The City chose to pursue Section 428 funding, in order to maximize
reimbursement for Category A – Debris Removal
• 85% - first 30 days
• 80% - 31 to 90 days
• 75% - 91 to 180 days
• After 180 days, extensions can be requested but for exceptional conditions

29. FEMA/TDEM Recovery Process

30. FEMA/TDEM Recovery Process
An $2.5 million Expedited Cat A Project Worksheet was submitted on
March 11, 2016
• Congressional approval and obligation of funds to TDEM by March
24th
• Partial disbursement of funds by TDEM received on April 15th (42
days from FEMA Kickoff Meeting)
• TDEM did not have pre-defined procedures for the disbursement of
expedited PW funds
• Tremendous efforts had to be made to make this all happen

31. Results
• We worked right up until the deadline
• Maximized reimbursement potential
• Ultimately saved millions
• Disadvantages
• If you don’t get done you are not getting paid for work
after 6 months
• There is a process for getting an extension; it won’t be
granted (highly unlikely)

32. So what about mutual aid?
• Consortiums
• Agreements
• Grants
• Other stuff…

33. PWERT 2015 Grant Equipment Cache Locations

34. • Variable message boards
• Emergency Response Trailer:
traffic control, cut saws,
chainsaws, generators, air
compressor
• Radio cache, portable signal,
dynamic message boards
• Light tower/generators

35. Cool Stuff We Did…
• Mark the streets – all the landmarks and
signs were gone…
• Landfill passes
• Bagsters
• Closed the road to work – when possible
• PW Emergency Response Team
• Suspension of out of state contractors
• Long Term Recovery Committee

36. More Cool Stuff We Did…
• Web site
• Video footage – RowlettTexasVideo on YouTube
• Newletters in the field, mailed, handouts
• Social media blitz
• Surveys
• Public Forums
• Long Term Recovery Committee (LTRC)

37. Yet More Cool Stuff
We Did…
• GPS handheld units and
GIS maps to track
everything
• Tabulation and estimation
• Signs
• Signals
• Debris piles
• Damaged houses
• Damaged vehicles
SIGN AND SIGNALS DAMAGED VEHICLES
STREETS & SIDEWALKSDEBRIS

38. Yet Even More Cool Stuff We Did..
• We hired consultant to package the entire submittal to FEMA
• Writing all of the project works sheets
• Reviewed and tabulation of the 214s
• They do this all the time and hopefully you never have to do it again
• WHY hire a consultant?: Because you have a City to run and the
sooner you get back to it the better
• And yes it is reimbursable by FEMA

39. After Action Report
• Debrief – AAR
• If you don’t have a process in place then start here:
• Debriefing at the end of projects or incidents is a powerful tool.
1. What went well?
2. What went poorly?
3. What could we do better?
4. What did we learn?
5. Actions for follow-up?
• There are many others out there and some more formal requirements
may exist in your agencies

40. So what did the
community think?
• http://rowletttx.swagit.com
/play/04192016-1758/#4

41. SO what do I need to do NOW?
• Update your emergency plan
• Practice your EOC operations
• NIMS
• Orientation to process
• Understand regional processes
• Prepositioning of resources
• Communications plan
• Tough decision making
• Shift planning
• Record keeping expertise
• Development and permitting
• Long term recovery planning

42. Key Points – Summing It Up
• Plan
• Prepare
• Train
• Network
• Execute
• Debrief
• Celebrate
• http://rowletttx.swagit.com/play/04192016-1758/#4
Any questions? Email me at jimproce@gmail.com

43. “Knowing how to respond quickly and efficiently in a crisis is
critical to ensuring the safety of our schools and students.
The midst of a crisis is not the time to start figuring out who
ought to do what. At that moment, everyone involved –
from top to bottom – should know the drill and know each
other.”
--Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education 2005-2009