Storm warnings activate state emergency ops center
Inside an underground, bunkerlike office near the Oklahoma Capitol, dozens of emergency management officials huddled at computer screens waiting for an approaching winter storm on Friday.
The Emergency Operations Center, with its two rings of work stations inside a large room surrounded by television broadcasts and traffic cameras, is where state agencies and volunteer groups coordinate to get resources where they’re needed.
By midday, no one had asked for help — yet.
“We've done the work ahead of time to make sure everything's available and to bring in additional supplies that might be needed,” said Keli Cain, spokeswoman for the state’s Emergency Management Department.
That includes generators for public shelters and water systems if they’re needed, plus relief supplies for people stranded by the storm.
“It may seem like it's pretty quiet, but there's been a lot of road closure reports that have come through so far,” Cain said. We're watching the local media reports and cutins. We stay pretty busy.”
In Enid, where ice accumulation is expected to approach half an inch over the weekend, Mike Honigsberg is one of the local emergency managers who will remain in contact with the state center.
“This way we have that open link, which is several open links, to where if we do need supplies, manpower, incident management teams and that kind of thing, we can get those fairly quickly,” Honigsberg said.
Emergency management in Enid and Garfield County is mostly a one-man operation, but Honigsberg said that local police and fire agencies help with the workload when needed. He also has a cadre of volunteers on call.
“It's just a matter of waiting to see when it's going to hit us and how bad it's going to be,” he said.
Thirty-five staffers from nine state, federal and private entities reported Friday at 7 a.m. when Gov. Mary Fallin ordered the center to launch its 24-hour watch. They are arranged in a way that people who are most likely to be talking to each other in an emergency are seated next to each other.
There are four levels that designate how heavily the state monitors and responds to emergency situations; Friday began at level one, the highest.
“The event is supposed to go on through the weekend so we're actually activated 24 hours for Friday and Saturday, and at least part of Sunday,” Cain said. “We'll basically stay activated until we're not needed.”
The operations center won’t send out resources unless they’re requested by local officials, but Cain said they can reach out if the weather picks up.
There are cots and showers in case the team gets stuck in an ice storm, but the level of activity can change as the weekend wears on.
“If the weather ends up not being as bad as previously expected, we would most likely change the activation level early,” said Cain.