Reporter staff
Mercer Island Reporter

Except for a few dozen Islanders who had generators, the entire Island was without electricity on the morning of Dec. 15. On Sunday evening, Dec. 17, the Town Center and North end of the Island received power first, followed by mid-Island homes on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, and lastly those on the South end of the Island Thursday and Friday. Some Islanders were still without power on Christmas Eve.

City employees mobilized to help Islanders and worked with Puget Sound Energy to restore power. They described how it went.

City Maintenance manager Glenn Boettcher

We talk a lot about safety on a regular basis, so it’s always on our minds. That said, (on the night of the storm) city crews were pushing the envelope by continuing to respond to damage as it was happening and while the wind was at its strongest. One crew could hear trees coming down close by but couldn’t see enough to know if they were in danger of being hit. They took cover beside the foundation of the nearest home until it was safe to return to their vehicle.

On Friday evening, I saw a lot of very tired (city) maintenance people but no burnout. After a few hours of sleep, they were back at it on Saturday. It was the same story on Sunday. They all know that responding to emergencies is one of their most important responsibilities.

One of our biggest challenges was keeping the backup generators that run our 18 sewer pump stations from running out of fuel, which could have resulted in (sewage) overflows into the Lake. Two people did nothing but take care of these generators for three days, nearly around the clock. In the first 48 hours after the storm, we went through 500 gallons of diesel fuel. The good news is that we had no overflows.

There really were no major surprises, he said of the damage. Most of us have been through several major windstorms over the years. You avoid surprises by anticipating and being prepared.

The reason why everyone doesn’t get their power restored at the same time is complicated. It has to do, in part, with the systematic way in which power has to be restored. Another factor is the availability of specialized crews such as transmission line and tree crews. There’s also the degree of damage and where it occurs. It’s much more time-consuming to repair a pole that’s been sheared off than a line that has broken.

Generally, trees tangled in lines are removed by PSE or its contractors. But city crews were performing most of this work for PSE on the Island in the first days after the storm to accelerate the restoration of power. We didn’t want PSE to have to wait for its own tree crews to make it to the Island. That put the Island a day or may be two ahead of where most other hard-hit cities were in re-opening roads and repairing major problems.

Service Commander Sgt. Leslie Burns: Police response

Our officers concentrated on handling welfare checks on elderly citizens, mostly at the request of families who live out of the area. Our officers moved a terminally ill and very cold patient to the Sunrise Care Center to wait out the storm and power outage. The officers checked on several houses for damage, documented road damage, delivered storm update flyers to local businesses, handled traffic control for PSE and our maintenance workers, responded to several incidents of residents handling power lines by themselves and removing barricades.

Some individuals moved barricades to areas with downed trees or power lines, endangering others, Burns said.

Barricades are set up for a reason and are not meant to be moved by the public. If someone chooses to endanger themselves by moving a barricade and going through it, it also endangers the next person who comes along that may well have heeded the danger warning, but unbeknownst to them, a sign or barricade was removed.

Mercer Island police also staffed the call center in the EOC on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We took our share of calls from hostile people. We also took some calls from people who had prepared (for the storm) and had nice things to say about city staff and PSE workers.

Deputy Fire Chief Chris Tubbs: Fire Response

The biggest challenge for the Fire Department the night of the storm was simply (getting) access to emergency scenes. We had numerous incidents where our crews could not get their vehicles to — and firefighters would have to walk the remaining distance to the homes, especially during the height of the storm.

Firefighters were out driving to these emergencies while trees and power lines were still coming down. This year none of our staff or vehicles were hit by any falling debris but some of our neighboring departments did have vehicles destroyed. We have had vehicles damaged in past wind storms but lucked out this time.

We didn’t have any surprises — we have been through many windstorms over the years. We have a good infrastructure for managing this type of event. However, we continually assess each event looking for ways to continue to improve how we serve our community. With recent integration of new technologies such as our mobile data computers, we see the opportunity to use these resources in new ways which will enhance how we serve this community, simply through information management.

What is always worth noting is the level of dedication our staff expends to serve the community. While citizens are hunkered down in their homes and trees are falling and the winds are blowing, our staff is responding to their homes to assist with whatever emergency or service is needed. During this, our crew’s families are having to deal with the same challenges and damage at their own homes but without their spouses, as these firefighters are serving this community, and they do it with such joy and passion.

City of Mercer Island Communications Coordinator Joy Bueling

During an emergency, the city’s Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is in constant contact with staff, such as police, fire and maintenance crews, who are working in the field. Communication is conducted mainly through cell phones, direct-connect on Nextel, and text messages on cell phones. As backup, city personnel use VHF & UHF handheld radios and mobilize the Island’s amateur radio operators.

The city is in constant contact with regional emergency operations during an emergency situation. Communication is conducted through the use of land lines, cell phones, and email. Sometimes these systems are down in an emergency, so city personnel also use VHF & UHF handheld radios and mobilize the Island’s amateur radio operators. Other services used in emergency operations include, “Winlink,” a form of Internet used over radios, direct-connect on Nextel, and text messages on cell phones, which often work even if cell service is not as functional.

The city gets information to citizens about emergency operations and have a mechanism for citizens to report in. Citizens should always call 911 for life-threatening emergencies. Also, in an emergency, the main city number, 236-5300, is switched to a phone bank. For example, starting Friday morning after the storm, the phone bank was staffed by three or four people at all times. Amateur radio operators were contacted and stationed as needed to provide backup should phone systems fail. These amateur radio operators were in fact used as our means of communication between city staff and the shelter at West Mercer Way. City Hall and the Community Center were open throughout the weekend so that citizens could come by for information.

Approximately 8,000 flyers have been distributed throughout the Island at grocery stores and by neighborhood captains. There were 12 radio reports on the air, either recordings or live, a TV interview, six newspaper interviews, and posted an average of three web postings per day. There were also e-mails to MI Weekly subscribers, other city staff and the press. There are also regular voicemail updates to the city’s main voicemail.

It is important, however, for neighbors to communicate with each other if there is a power outage or if phone lines are down. The emergency plan, based on national disaster preparedness plans, depends on Mercer Island citizens taking some personal responsibility in a disaster. There are just 170 City employees for a population of 22,181. Being prepared and watching out for each other is essential.

To train citizens be part of emergency preparedness and response, the Neighborhood Preparedness Plan through the City of Mercer Island has been in effect since 1997. There are nine zones throughout the Island. Each zone has a captain and we have sectioned off individual neighborhoods within each zone. Of those individual neighborhoods roughly 91 have opted to officially organize, although we have many neighborhoods that have not exercised their option to organize.

Organization means that the neighborhood has determined how it can take care of itself for seven to 10 days. They have, in most cases, exchanged numbers and lists of occupants at each residence, have a stocked first aid kit and designated location, designated a sheltering site, and select a search and rescue team. In addition, each family has a disaster kit in place, train each other how to turn off the gas in a home, have a pet rescue and mental comfort plan. An organized neighborhood also has a communication plan that involves a combination of the communication methods mentioned above.