Questions continue on tsunami warning

Dale and Sylvia Costich went to the Wahkiakum County Commissioners on March 22, two weeks after a tsunami steaming toward the West Coast gave some Puget Islanders a sleepless night. The Costiches asked questions about the Sheriff’s ability to order and manage an orderly evacuation of the Island.

Sylvia Costich said looking forward she is concerned that by not giving adequate warning, “we could be denied …a safe orderly evacuation.”

Sylvia said she envisioned a huge traffic jam at the bridge.

Information necessary to plan an orderly evacuation is not available to county planners.

While the county’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) is updated regularly, it does not contain specific plans for natural disasters or hazards, such as an earthquake or an industrial accident that might require the evacuation of Puget Island or other areas, nor does it contain details about the emergency notification system.

Wahkiakum Chief Civil Deputy Joannie Bjorge said she’s not sure how long it takes the emergency notification system to notify residents after it is initiated.

“It depends on the number of lines they use.” she said.

Bjorge said staff would have to be called into the office to initiate the warning because of the technical nature of the task.

Undersheriff Mark Howie did not know how long an evacuation of the Island would likely take or how people might be evacuated if the bridge were unsafe.

“Evacuation and transportation are handled by Public Works,” he said, noting that the CEMP assigns tasks to each department.

Wahkiakum Public Works Director Pete Ringen declined to discuss specifics without reviewing the latest update to the plan by Ron Kimmel, who has volunteered to help Sheriff Jon Dearmore as emergency service director. Ringen said there were no regular emergency planning meetings.

Kimmel updates the plan as required by federal guidelines, he said.

Neither Howie nor Kimmel think the plan should have specific scenarios or detail.

“We have to respond to the specifics of what happens,” Howie said.

Kimmel said “It is an all hazard plan. It is designed to grow or shrink as the event requires.” If local response is overwhelmed, the plan describes who will respond in the adjoining region or state if necessary. Wahkiakum County is part of Homeland Security Region IV along with Cowlitz, Clark, and Skamania counties.

Many local emergency personnel refer to the CEMP for detail. Scott Kerhli, Puget Island Fire Chief, said although his department has talked about evacuation from time to time, the events in Japan prompted further discussion at the chiefs’ meeting. He assumed the CEMP had information about the means being considered for a Puget Island evacuation.

While Costich was concerned enough about timely notification to strategize alternatives such as an audible alarm system, the county’s undersheriff and chief civil deputy said they saw nothing that should be done differently.

“I can’t understand what information people wanted or where we’d have gotten it,” Kimmel said.

If the bridge were unsafe, the ferry and the Wahkiakum-on-the-Move bus and school buses could be part of an evacuation plan, Kimmel said, “but I couldn’t say how long that would take.”

Howie said if the Island needed to be evacuated, the sheriff’s deputies would go door to door, they would use public address systems in police cars, and they would send a message via the Emergency Communication Line.

Howie said the department is working to be able to add emergency information to their website, which is currently programmed from another office. Bjorge was uncertain when the recorded information line was updated during the tsunami advisory.

By 5:40 a.m., the information line had been updated that morning, advising that a decision to evacuate would be made after the wave reached Hawaii. No further information was posted.

Following the Costiches’ questions, commissioners scheduled a review of the process on April 12.

Commissioner Lisa Marsyla said the public is demanding that the county have a plan and that she will seek funding for emergency management staff.

Island resident Judy Brawn, who received telephone calls the night of the tsunami advisory, was one of those who met with the commissioners.

“I think if people knew the sheriff’s office had a plan, it would lower panic and increase confidence,” she said.