Disaster Plan, Alaska

Being next to the Bering Sea, our position above sea level was not great.

I lived on the highest ground around, and it measured 7 feet above sea level. We ddid't worry about tornadoes or hurricanes, and the earthquakes that happened were of no consequence. However when the wind is out of the southeast and the rain has not turned to snow, conditions up there resembled the Plaza Flood.

For  two years I  gazed out my window, past the dump, beyond the graveyard, just east of the abandoned oil tanks and out on to the tundra. I had always wondered why there were large boats sitting out there, hundreds of yards from the bay. Perhaps the boats were pulled there for repairs or were old and were incorporated into fish drying racks.

One day in the fall during first period it started to rain, by second period the wind started blowing – hard. By third period the principal announced that school would be dismissed so the students could get back home before the water covered the only road in town.

As I looked west out my window I could tell the ponds on the tundra were filling up, flowing over the grass and joining to make one big lake.

Pretty soon the water began to spill over the road and quickly flooded the north tundra plane as far as the eye could see. I went to the opposite side of the school and to the northeast I saw the entire tundra under water with boats floating where I had recently been stomping around on the soggy marsh. I began to realize the entire village was surrounded by water and wondered if it would get higher than the 7 feet. If so I wondered what would we do. No one seemed to be in a panic so I was not real concerned, but I did check to see what our emergency hand book had to say about the situation.

There was information on what to do if a person came on campus carrying a gun and what to do if a wild animal wandered into town, (lock the doors, not to keep the animal out but to keep the kids in). There was an earthquake procedure and a standard fire evacuation procedure.

An interesting one told you what to do if you were caught on an ice drift during a field trip. But nothing about flooding.

After the water subsided, I asked as to why there was no procedure in place in case there was a 100- or 500-year rain.

I should have kept my mouth shut, because the principal read my resume and found that I had once worked for the State of Missouri Disaster Operation Office, now called the State Emergency Management Agency. A far better title. Anyway, he appointed me a committee of one to write the procedure.

Not wanting to reinvent any wheel that might be out there, I asked the police chief about such a plan. He did not have one, nor did he think it was necessary, but he did say that after I got done he would like a copy. I went to the village and regional native corporation thinking they might have one, but was told no, but they wanted a copy also.

Apparently word got out, and a couple of other schools in the district asked if they could have a copy.

It had been years since I had written a disaster plan. Back when I was helping to write such plans for the state we had a tried and true method.

We would take an old plan and just change the name of the town or city, make sure we put in the correct nearby river or stream, then visit the area and present the plan to the governing body with much fanfare. Everyone was happy and felt a little safer. I am sure that as the years have gone by the procedure is more professional.

However at the time that did  not help me in drafting an emergency plan that dealt with flooding caused by high winds and waves. I thought about contacting an old friend of mine to see if he had a copy of a disaster plan concerning flooding, or better yet tidal waves, or at least something I could finesse into a local disaster recovery plan.  He sent me what he had and I developed a pretty good plan by changing  Brush Creek to the Bering Sea and the Plaza flat lands to the Alaskan tundra .

However the principal never mentioned it to me again so I did not turn it in.  I guess they are getting along OK.

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