December 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 58

Operations
Seven Tips to Take the
Sting Out of Severe Weather
By James Careless

lizzards, heat waves and hurricanes are but a few of the many severe
weather events with which park and recreation departments cope on
a regular basis. This is why disaster planning is a top priority for agencies in cities like Chicago, New Orleans, New York City, the Parish of
East Baton Rouge and Seattle.
Parks & Recreation magazine
plumbed these agencies' vast knowledge of and experience with severe
weather to compile the following seven tips for when disaster strikes.

Tip 1: Plan for a Range of Scenarios

Malcolm Pinckney/NYC Parks

Severe weather comes in all forms
and requires cross-departmental responses. That's why the New York
City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) belongs to " a
dozen different plans " in cooperation
with other city departments, says Michael Dockett, the New York Assistant Commissioner for Urban Park
Service. For instance, there's a Coast-

al Storm plan: " When Hurricane
Sandy came through, that plan was
enacted, " he said. Each of these severe weather plans compiles the likely damage and risks associated with
each specific weather threat and how
best to deal with it.

Tip 2: Stockpile Supplies

Well in Advance
To cope with severe weather, park
and recreation departments need
everything from emergency food
supplies and shelter for staff to sandbags, generators, chainsaws, drywall,
2-by-4s and plastic sheeting to patch
roofs and walls. Whatever supplies

NYC Parks staff and municipal workers clear debris after a
severe storm caused extensive neighborhood damage.

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their disaster plans require, the key
is to have everything procured and
stored across various locations well
in advance. This includes portable
two-way radios integrated with the
city's own network, because cellular networks tend to overload or fail
during natural disasters.
Seattle's Parks and Recreation Department helps neighborhoods set up
their own emergency response groups
equipped with kits of emergency supplies and their own two-way radios.
" We let volunteer groups store boxes
of radios in our recreation facilities,
and use these buildings as communication hubs when emergencies occur, " says Patti Petesch, Seattle Parks
and Recreation's emergency management manager.

Tip 3: Use a Scheduled Approach

to Plan Implementation
Having endured more than its fair
share of severe weather, the City of
New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC) takes
emergency preparedness very seriously. Mindful that it takes time to put an
emergency plan into action, NORDC
has structured its tactics based on the
clock - namely, tasks that need to be
done 72, 48 and 24 hours before severe weather arrives. This approach
balances preparing for the storm with
directing deployment decisions. " By
the 48-hour window, we usually have
a pretty good idea of what kind of
event we are looking at, " says Mary-jo
Webster, COO at NORDC.

December 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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