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<br />LESSONS of RECOVERY - A REViEW of TIlE 1997 COLORAdo Flood DisASTER <br /> <br />Q Business Assistance (Morgan Community College Small Business Development Center) <br /> <br />Q Private Contributors (Fort Morgan Chamber of Commerce, Excel Corporation, American Eagle, Culligan <br />Water) <br /> <br />Logan County I <br /> <br />Response <br /> <br />As it became apparent to local officials that flooding throughout the Pawnee Creek watershed was <br />imminent, immediate steps were undertaken to protect population in the Sterling-Atwood area. <br />Emergency personnel and elected officials from Logan County and the City of Sterling coordinated <br />response activities for citizens throughout the county, including flood warnings, emergency evacuations, flood- <br />fight operations, road closures and emergency assistance to flood victims. <br /> <br />The Board of County Commissioners, Logan County Sheriffs Department, Road and Bridge <br />Deparbnent, Emergency Manager and other local personnel, with the support of Colorado State Patrol and <br />Colorado Department of Transportation, worked overnight attempting to minimize the flood's consequences in <br />unincorporated areas. Sheriffs Deputies evacuated all 80 residents of Atwood and performed dozens of <br />rescues in rural parts of the county. <br /> <br />The Sterling Police Department, Sterling Fire Department, City Manager, American Red Cross and local <br />emergency medical services providers worked feverishly to protect people and property from advancing <br />floodwaters, including addressing the special needs of nursing home and hospital populations. Facing a <br />prediction of high water at Sterling Regional Medical Center, the hospital was evacuated and patients were <br />transferred to another hospital or discharged, Basic emergency room operations were relocated to the Wally <br />Post Gym at Sterling High School. Residents of the Sterling Living Center were evacuated with the help of <br />police to Northeast Junior College, where they had to be moved a second time -- from the first to the second <br />level of a dormitory building -- when floodwaters moved toward campus. <br /> <br />The Northern Plains Chapter of the American Red Cross established a shelter at Wally Post Gym on July <br />30 and by later in the evening had registered over 100 people. The shelter remained open until August 3. <br /> <br />Recovery <br /> <br />Two days after the flood, a Coordinated Response Center opened at the Logan County Central Services <br />Building in Sterling to provide assistance and information to flood victims. Like the disaster recovery <br />centers in Fort Collins and Weldona, the center in Sterling was established jointly by local officials and <br />the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. City, county, state, federal and volunteer agencies participated in the <br />center's operations. The Northeast Colorado Health Department administered hundreds of free tetanus <br />shots to area residents at the center and also provided free testing of water well samples. Local agencies <br />represented at the center included Logan County Social Services, Northeast Colorado Housing, Inc., <br />Northeast Colorado Revolving Loan Fund, Northeastern Colorado Association of Local Governments, <br />and Morgan Community College Small Business Development Center. <br /> <br />Outreach teams from the center were dispatched to Atwood for the convenience of residents of the hard-hit <br />community and to ensure that all flood victims were aware of the resources available to them. <br /> <br />COLORAdo OffiCE of EMERGENcy MANAGEMENT <br /> <br />16 <br />