Release date:
May 18, 2006
Release Number: 1604-355
TYLERTOWN, Miss. -- Roland Vandenweghe is a busy man. He's the Emergency Manager of Walthall County, Miss. He's the county's Department of Homeland Security coordinator. And its flood plain administrator. On the side, he raises chickens.
With only two years on the job before Hurricane Katrina hit, Vandenweghe said he learned much about catastrophic disaster response "on the fly." During the first five weeks after the storm he worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week in the county that lies about 60 miles north of New Orleans. Forty-one members of Vandenweghe's family evacuated to his home in Tylertown from New Orleans the day before the storm. Though he characterizes his home as big, he admits his relatives were jammed into every available space, including under the tables.
"We had never really gone through anything like this before," Vandenweghe said. "Neither had anyone else around here. I am personally grateful for all that MEMA and FEMA did to help us get through this disaster."
A man of many talents and a tenacious, persevering attitude, Vandenweghe said he had undergone five weeks of specialized emergency training prior to Katrina's raking most of Walthall County with near 100 mph winds and torrential rains.
Walthall County has a population of only 15,000 and a per capita income of $16,808. Tylertown, with slightly less than 2,000 persons, is the only incorporated city in the county. Of the 5,000 homes in the county, nearly 300 were destroyed and most of the rest received some level of damage. The county was overwhelmed with downed trees, broken limbs and other debris.
Cell phones did not work in Tylertown-only police radios. In order to stay in touch with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, twice a day he drove 50 miles (round-trip) to McComb for conference calls. Vandenweghe's home generator powered a satellite connection to the Internet, and he coordinated many relief efforts by e-mail because roadways were strewn with downed power lines and debris.
The community's power outage caused all sorts of problems. The Walthall County General Hospital's generator was only powerful enough to meet emergency power needs for critical operations areas. That meant no air conditioning in most of the building. Dialysis patients went without treatments for up to nine days because there was no water pressure. Emergency officials had no power to pump fuel stored in underground tanks for vehicles or generators.
Tylertown's two grocery stores and every retail food outlet were closed; however, it wasn't long before volunteers from the Michigan Baptist Relief Services showed up with their own 18-wheeler loaded with food, generators, portable dishwashers and mobile kitchens.
Soon they were serving 5,000 meals a day to hungry and grateful residents. Local volunteers joined in until more than 150 volunteers were staffing the operation. The school superintendent realized that frozen food in the school's cafeteria was about to go to waste. He ordered everything in the freezers to be cooked. School officials fed first responders and utility workers until the food ran out.
Volunteers from a Pennsylvania food bank helped Vandenweghe set up a donation center in an empty feed mill in downtown Tylertown. The Keystone State visitors donated their labor, time and equipment to wire the mill for lighting. Volunteers also set up an informal intake center, helping process FEMA applications until the Disaster Recovery Center was up and running. The sheriff's office and the administrators at the courthouse offered free space to those who needed to park their trailers.
Vandenweghe developed a flier with resource information and phone numbers and coordinated with the district U.S. Postal Service supervisor to have it delivered to every house in the county on the same day. It saved gasoline (a rare commodity) and assisted volunteers.
May 18, 2006
Release Number: 1604-355
TYLERTOWN, Miss. -- Roland Vandenweghe is a busy man. He's the Emergency Manager of Walthall County, Miss. He's the county's Department of Homeland Security coordinator. And its flood plain administrator. On the side, he raises chickens.
With only two years on the job before Hurricane Katrina hit, Vandenweghe said he learned much about catastrophic disaster response "on the fly." During the first five weeks after the storm he worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week in the county that lies about 60 miles north of New Orleans. Forty-one members of Vandenweghe's family evacuated to his home in Tylertown from New Orleans the day before the storm. Though he characterizes his home as big, he admits his relatives were jammed into every available space, including under the tables.
"We had never really gone through anything like this before," Vandenweghe said. "Neither had anyone else around here. I am personally grateful for all that MEMA and FEMA did to help us get through this disaster."
A man of many talents and a tenacious, persevering attitude, Vandenweghe said he had undergone five weeks of specialized emergency training prior to Katrina's raking most of Walthall County with near 100 mph winds and torrential rains.
Walthall County has a population of only 15,000 and a per capita income of $16,808. Tylertown, with slightly less than 2,000 persons, is the only incorporated city in the county. Of the 5,000 homes in the county, nearly 300 were destroyed and most of the rest received some level of damage. The county was overwhelmed with downed trees, broken limbs and other debris.
Cell phones did not work in Tylertown-only police radios. In order to stay in touch with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, twice a day he drove 50 miles (round-trip) to McComb for conference calls. Vandenweghe's home generator powered a satellite connection to the Internet, and he coordinated many relief efforts by e-mail because roadways were strewn with downed power lines and debris.
The community's power outage caused all sorts of problems. The Walthall County General Hospital's generator was only powerful enough to meet emergency power needs for critical operations areas. That meant no air conditioning in most of the building. Dialysis patients went without treatments for up to nine days because there was no water pressure. Emergency officials had no power to pump fuel stored in underground tanks for vehicles or generators.
Tylertown's two grocery stores and every retail food outlet were closed; however, it wasn't long before volunteers from the Michigan Baptist Relief Services showed up with their own 18-wheeler loaded with food, generators, portable dishwashers and mobile kitchens.
Soon they were serving 5,000 meals a day to hungry and grateful residents. Local volunteers joined in until more than 150 volunteers were staffing the operation. The school superintendent realized that frozen food in the school's cafeteria was about to go to waste. He ordered everything in the freezers to be cooked. School officials fed first responders and utility workers until the food ran out.
Volunteers from a Pennsylvania food bank helped Vandenweghe set up a donation center in an empty feed mill in downtown Tylertown. The Keystone State visitors donated their labor, time and equipment to wire the mill for lighting. Volunteers also set up an informal intake center, helping process FEMA applications until the Disaster Recovery Center was up and running. The sheriff's office and the administrators at the courthouse offered free space to those who needed to park their trailers.
Vandenweghe developed a flier with resource information and phone numbers and coordinated with the district U.S. Postal Service supervisor to have it delivered to every house in the county on the same day. It saved gasoline (a rare commodity) and assisted volunteers.
