MEMA Report Reveals Goals, Improvements For Emergency Action
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Two floods, one in Ellicott City and one two weeks earlier in Frederick, Md., required massive repairs and cleanup in the weeks following heavy rains.
Maryland's Emergency Management Agency's after-action report studied how fast help to both areas arrived.
In Ellicott City, where it took months to recover from a flood two years ago, repairs to infrastructure re-opened Main Street much faster, with state and local agencies learning from 2016 flooding.
During the flood, first responders quickly moved in from other jurisdictions. The goal going forward is to staff-up faster before bad weather hits.
MEMA hopes to get an earlier warning from the National Weather Service.
"Some of this comes down to their ability to predict and see it on the radar, what they call these pop-up storms. It's very, very difficult for them to predict and give us the alert warning we need." Russ said.
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