As East Coast residents brace for Hurricane Sandy, some Arkansans are already on the ground, ready to help in the aftermath of the storm.
After making landfall along the coast of New Jersey Monday, the National Weather Service’s storm track is inland through Maryland and Pennsylvania before turning north and churning through central and western New York.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has two teams in Albany, N.Y., as a result of requests for assistance from local agencies processed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We have three people on the ground in Albany and a fourth is to arrive today,” said Tommy Jackson, department spokesman, on Monday. “This is in response to an (Emergency Management Assistance Compact) request for assistance.”
Jackson said the compact allows governors of states where emergencies have been declared to ask for help from other states. He said the Arkansas teams will most likely serve as relief crews, spelling their New York counterparts as needed for the duration of the emergency situation.
If needed, the state will make requests of county emergency agencies, but neither Benton County nor Washington County has received a call for assistance as midday Monday.
“As far as I know, it’s having no effect on us,” said Robert McGowen, director of the Benton County Emergency Management Agency, on Monday.
Rick Johnson, deputy director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency, said the agencies on the scene determine what they need and FEMA relays requests.
“We look at the requests and we look at what are the resources we have to offer,” Johnson said. “There’s a request for Type 3 swift water rescue teams. They’re wanting them for up to 14 days. It would be very difficult for us to provide that. The request was from Maine so that would make it even harder for us to send a team that far for that length of time.”
Johnson said other requests will be considered as they come in.
“We’re just like everybody else right now,” he said. “We’re watching the news and seeing what’s happening. Should we be needed, we’ll do everything we can.”
Twelve American Red Cross volunteers from Arkansas, including eight from Northwest Arkansas, traveled to the East Coast over the weekend to assist with storm relief efforts. They are in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and New York, said Jeff Patrick, director of communications for the Northwest Arkansas chapter.
The volunteers’ work will include managing mass meals and providing food with two Red Cross emergency trucks, Patrick said.
An additional seven volunteers are on standby if needed. Most Red Cross volunteers deploy for two to three weeks at a time on a relief effort.
Victory Church of Northwest Arkansas, located in Springdale, is part of a relief-effort network, said Jeannie Coffman, wife of Billy Coffman, senior pastor. They have not yet been asked to help with recovery, Depending on need, the church’s disaster relief crew, called Team Victory, could collect food or possibly go to the area.
Nancy Plagge, director of corporate communications with Carroll Electric Cooperative Corporation, said no requests for assistance had been received as of midday Monday.
Spokesman Peter Main of AEP-Swepco said the company sent 69 employees, including 17 from the Fayetteville district, as part of a larger team sent to help Appalachian Power in its service areas of Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.
“We have released another 40 linemen who work for us on a contract basis. That’s 109 personnel altogether from Swepco,” Main said.
Main said the crews include linemen, “troublemen” who are service technicians with experience in similar situation, engineers who can do damage assessments to and people who can lead the work crews through the event. There are also support personnel like fleet mechanics who can keep the service vehicles running, he said.
“This is similar to the assistance we had in Northwest Arkansas when we had over 1,000 linemen and other personnel during the ice storm in 2009,” he said.
Main said while Hurricane Sandy is getting the lion’s share of attention, power companies also have to be concerned about a secondary effect of the storm.
“In addition to the winds of 40 to 60 mph they’re forecasting up to 20 inches of heavy, wet snow, which can be very damaging to power systems.”
Dave Perozek contributed to this report.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE IN TODAY'S ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PAGES 1A & 1B
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Latest Storm Information
The latest information on Hurricane Sandy can be found at the National Hurricane Center of the National Weather Service at nhc.noaa.gov/#SANDY.