STORM OVERVIEW OF DECEMBER 1ST, 2018

Forward
Christian County is geographically situated in an area within the United States ripe for severe weather as
warm, moist air from the Gulf States and dry, cold Canadian air come together within the area widely known
as” tornado alley” (depicted below). Since 1950, Christian County has experienced 28 tornadoes.

Throughout this incident, I have heard numerous residents share their surprise this tornado occurred in
December, far outside of the traditional severe weather season. In reality, tornadoes have occurred each
month of the year, lending to a stance of “always be ready, always be prepared” with the Christian County
Emergency Management Agency (CCEMA).

Part of this preparedness is an hour-long presentation that discusses the risk of storms in Christian County
and what preparedness steps our residents should take before, during and after a storm. This presentation has
reached hundreds of residents, groups and businesses throughout the County over the last ten years.
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The CCEMA has specific plans embedded into the Christian County Emergency Operations Plan designed to
assist in mitigating these incidents; much of this plan was exercised during this event.

One great irony of this storm was a drill the CCEMA conducted for the public works agencies within Christian
County a few years ago. The slide below was a fictitious portrayal of a tornado striking Hewittville; designed
to exercise our local public works plans for debris management.

It gives me great pleasure to share that Taylorville Street Superintendent Dick Wiseman believed this tabletop
exercise assisted him with the overall response.

Hewittville Destroyed

Oller Street

Long Street

Michels Street

South Houston Street Route 48

Judging by the phone calls I have received since December 2nd, this storm has proven to be a catalyst for our
local communities, churches and businesses to revisit their own preparedness plans. I am excited to provide
any expertise and plan writing as we improve our overall preparedness.

_____________________________________________________________

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STORM OVERVIEW

On Saturday December 1st, an EF-3 rating scale tornado moved through the south side of Taylorville with
estimated wind speeds of 155 mph and a maximum width of 1/2 mile. This tornado traveled 12.7 miles,
moving through the Village of Stonington after leaving Taylorville. With this particular tornado, the National
Weather Service (NWS) issued a “Tornado Emergency”; a rare warning issued when a damaging tornado is
confirmed moving towards a populated area.

On Saturday, not only did Taylorville have the normal population in their homes and moving around the
community, but a dense population of Christmas parade attendees assembling for the event scheduled for
5:00. The parade staging area where these crowds gathered ended up being where damage began on the
eastern edge of the storm’s path.

By the time the storm left the area, 695 homes were damaged, 33 of which were destroyed and 104 received
major damage. There remains a great concern that only 321 confirmed structures have insurance.

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_______________________________________________________

SATURDAY- DECEMBER 1st, DAY OF STORM

NWS began reporting the possibility of severe weather early Saturday morning in the usual format of a daily
weather brief via email. Of note in this email was a prediction of strong to severe weather developing in the
mid-afternoon with a slight possibility of isolated tornadoes. This information was copied onto the Christian
County Severe Weather and Disaster Recovery Facebook page at 07:48am becoming the first official
notification from CCEMA (see the next page).

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As the day progressed, the possibility of significant weather increased, prompting on-the-hour discussions
between myself, Christmas parade organizer Marcia Neal and NWS meteorologists.

At 3:11pm, CCEMA posted a Tornado Watch from NWS indicating conditions were favorable for a tornado but
given the current conditions, the parade was still planned to move forward. Marcia and I agreed the decision
to cancel would come at 4:00, just prior to assembling parade participants. We also determined the means to
alert those already lining the parade route if a cancellation occurred.

Just after 4:00, I was on the phone with a meteorologist discussing chances of lightning within five miles of the
parade route. Up until this time, lightening was the prevailing threat we were evaluating. During this call,
reports began to surface of funnel clouds near Litchfield from a storm front moving northeast towards
Christian County along Illinois Route 48. The meteorologists confirmed there was rotation quickly developing
in Montgomery County moving north-east prompting the parade cancellation at 4:18.

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Weather spotters from Christian County fire departments were immediately dispatched with tornado reports
coming soon after near Raymond-Harvel area. These reports indicated there may be multiple funnels
prompting siren activation. The CCEMA siren policy is below:

1) The NWS issues a tornado warning. If the National Weather Service issues a warning for the entire county,
all sirens will be activated. If a warning is issued for a community within a polygon warning box, only the
sirens in that affected area will be activated.
2) A weather spotter, firefighter or law enforcement officer sights a tornado or funnel cloud.
3) The storm has a history of producing tornadoes or damage in upstream counties.
4) The NWS issues a wind speed warning in excess of 75 mph or sustained wind speeds of 50mph.
5) If a sighting has been observed by a citizen, every attempt to verify the report should be made by
contacting EMA or NWS prior to siren activation.

As trained spotters began reporting a large tornado moving directly towards Taylorville, a decision to break
policy was made and activate the sirens a second time in the hopes residents would not confuse that
activation as an all clear. The second siren activation was immediately followed by a post on social media.

View from Morrisonville

Given the apparent path of the storm, I directed all fire crews to leave the city and stage at Lake Taylorville to
assure our fire apparatus would be spared should TFD receive a direct hit at city center. TFD Captain M.
Adermann assisted by Firefighter M. Phillips managed internal communication and directed TFD crews as
alarms came in. These two individuals played a big part in the initial response success.

When the tornado arrived at 5:21, City emergency resources were all-hands.
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Path of tornado

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_____________________________________________________________________________

Description of emergency resources at time of deployment.

TFD was covered with four members on-duty, two off-duty members were at the
station for the parade.

Taylorville Police had three officers working, Christian County Sheriff, two
deputies.

Although these officers and firefighters were outmatched by such a large storm,
by all accounts all personnel performed at the highest levels prior to mutual aid
resources arrived.

(By comparison, larger communities such as Springfield would have an initial

response of 18-24 firefighters operating from multiple fire companies).

_____________________________________________________________________________

The initial on-scene reports coming from TFD fire crews reported difficulties moving through town and
multiple people trapped at numerous locations. It became immediately clear this response would task our
local resources requiring a regional response from the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System and the Illinois Law
Enforcement Agency System. At the height of the deployment TFD assigned search and rescue task forces
utilizing 13 fire departments and 15 ambulances. A special request was made for a deployment of Special
Teams from the Springfield and Decatur Fire Departments to assist with search and rescue. These resources
were blended with engine companies and ambulances to work in task forces moving door to door.

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 The task forces working out of TFD worked throughout the night, checking for people that could have been
trapped in residences and any secondary hazards such as downed power lines or gas leaks. The leaks were
mitigated by the crews or referred to Ameren for further mitigation.

Taylorville Police Chief Brian Hile was in Effingham for training and rapidly returned to manage police
resources moving into the area to establish a perimeter and secure the storm impact area. Chief Hile worked
in close coordination with Sheriff Kettlekamp and Chief Deputy Bruce Engling. All of these men did an
exceptional job managing these resources and securing the impact area.

Mayor Barry arrived at TFD very early and the response receiving continual updates from his emergency
services. Mayor Barry remained active in the emergency operations center well into the following morning.

Given the scope of the incident it seemed clear from the onset this would be a response covering multiple
days, so an emergency management assistance team was requested through emergency management
communications, known as EM-Com, located in Lincoln; this request went out at 6:16pm. These emergency
management professionals would be assigned the positions of finance, planning, logistics, and operations
within the EOC. Although their mission changed when they arrived into operations, they proved to be a great
resource on the ground assisting the Christian County Damage Assessment Team.

On the healthcare side of the table, the Christian County Health Dept. Taylorville Memorial Hospital and Pana
Community Hospital maintained a strong presence in the EOC. It was imperative that the EOC had a direct
connection with healthcare to monitor the sick and injured and diminish the chances of food-borne illness as
unregulated food poured in for relief workers.

Through the nighttime hours, all local and mutual aid resources managed to treat, package and transport 21
patients, 3 of which were life threatening. By 02:00am, rescue efforts had subsided into a benchmark of All
Clear, transitioning the city from life safety to incident stabilization.

An initial concern for displaced residents focused on opening a shelter at a pre-determined location. The
Cross-Roads church had taken the initiative to open their doors as a shelter thus the EOC moved from a pre-
determined location and moved into Crossroads. At the height of the incident, the shelter housed five
residents, supported by the American Red Cross.

INCIDENT STABILIZATION

Sunday December 2nd through Today

Clearly the biggest issue facing the city, county and townships is debris management and associated concerns.
This effort continues to be coordinated between City Street Superintendent Dick Wiseman and County
Engineer Cliff Frye; both of these men were given an immense task.

Wiseman and Frye have utilized resources from Taylorville, Christian County, State of Illinois Department of
Transportation and Corrections and numerous other townships and communities within our county and
others. These resources stage each morning at the Christian County Fairgrounds and dispatched at Wiseman
and Frye’s direction.
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Even today, I hold no ability to visit a store, talk with friends and family who don’t share how immensely
impressed by the work our public works employees have done in the cleanup efforts. These workers and their
superintendents are the backbone to the community recovery. Seeing what they have accomplished since
December 1st is simply remarkable.

Residents have been encouraged to segregate piles into woody debris which is tree limbs, shrubs, etc and
construction and demolition debris. The woody debris will be collected first and it should be moved to
curbside so responders can begin the process of removing debris.

Like all disasters of this magnitude, local residents wanted to help necessitating a coordinated effort to bring
volunteers together. A Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) opened on Wednesday Dec 5th through Sunday,
December 9th from 0900-3:00 at the Taylorville Township building. This mission was managed by
representatives from the disaster relief group Team Rubicon. Volunteers were appropriated vetted and
assigned to Team Rubicon, Lutheran Relief Group or the Southern Baptists Relief Group.

Donations continue to pour into the City. To their benefit, the City had use of the Gagne distribution center to
store donated goods of all types. City Aldermen Budd, Olive, Walters, Burtle, Water Supt Speagle and their
spouses have manned this building and organized the donated items.

There was a coordinated effort early on to seek monetary donations only however items flooded the City
spontaneously. The City approach has been to collect, inventory and distribute these items for those in need.
Long-term storage will need to be addressed by the City Council as time moves ahead and away from the
storm timeline.

Speaking to monetary donations, these are under the care and distribution of Missions for Taylorville. This
group is self-organized and is establishing rules for monetary distribution. This group has sought guidance
from Kincaid Police Chief Dwayne Wheeler who coordinated the relief effort during the Kincaid floods.

At the height of the incident Ameren, Shelby and Rural Electric had 2200 customers without power. Within
two days, most customers power was restored, the remainder on day three. These companies responded in
mass, working by one account over 24 hours non-stop shifts installing poles, hanging powerline and
transformers. These workers deserve our deepest respect and gratitude.

DAMAGE ASESSMENT

Damage information (private property, business losses, and public infrastructure damages) must be first
collected by local officials. Based upon the information collected by local officials, IEMA may request a
Federal/State Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA). During the visit, the PDA team tours, collects and
analyzes the damage information. The damage assessment team members include IEMA, FEMA, SBA, and local
officials. Local officials MUST be prepared to show all damages to the PDA team(s).

In this case, Initial Damage Assessment (DA) was completed by several teams from Christian County and the
Illinois Emergency Services Management Association. These teams went out to eight designated areas

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including Hewittville, Morrisonville, Stonington and Taylorville. The date the DA collected determined
addresses, type of damage and if the property was insured.

A summary of damage collected is below:

Affected- 185
Minor- 374
Major- 104
Destroyed- 33
Total number of insured structures is in flux but on December 10 that number was 324.

DISASTER PROCLAMATION

Mayor Barry signed a Proclamation of Disaster for Taylorville on December 1st, effective for 7 days; Christian
County Chairwoman Becky Edwards signed their proclamation on December 3rd. Both of these chief elected
officials were engaged at the highest level for this incident providing strong leadership. The State of Illinois
declared soon after releasing additional funding for overtime expenses for state employees assisting with
disaster relief.

The State of Illinois was represented in the EOC each by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. Christian
County falls under Illinois Region 6 and Coordinator Robert Fleming. Mr. Fleming along with the IEMA Director
William Robertson, Deputy Director Jennifer Ricker, State Damage Coordinator Jason Williams and
accompanying staff maintained a presence during all hours the EOC was open. These individuals processed our
requests for state resources, peeling back red tape as they were embedded into our command structure.

This incident brought visits from state and local officials with a visit from Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner,
Governor Elect JB Pritzer, US Congressmen Rodney Davis, US Senator Richard Durbin and US Congresswoman
Tammy Duckworth.

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A Small Business Administration (SBA) damage assessment will be conducted on Dec 18/19. This request came
at the request of local elected officials after consulting with officials from IEMA. SBA provides low-interest
disaster loans to businesses of all sizes, private non-profit organizations, homeowners and renters. SBA loans
can be used to repair or replace the following items: real estate, personal property, machinery and
equipment.

To summarize the program, if a resident experienced damage to their home or personal property, they may be
eligible for financial assistance from the SBA.

Loan Amounts and Use

Homeowners may apply for up to $200,000 to replace or repair their primary residence. The loans may not be
used to upgrade homes or make additions, unless required by Taylorville/Stonington building code. If a
resident makes improvements that help prevent the risk of future property damage caused by a similar
disaster, they may be eligible for up to a 20 percent loan amount increase above the real estate damage, as
verified by the SBA.

In some cases, SBA can refinance all or part of a previous mortgage when the applicant does not have credit
available elsewhere and has suffered substantial disaster damage not covered by insurance. Generally, renters
and homeowners may borrow up to $40,000 to replace or repair personal property such as clothing, furniture,
cars and appliances damaged or destroyed in a disaster. This may be applicable for residents locally as we had
numerous residents listed as unknown or no insurance. The results of the assessment will be forthcoming.

MEETING HUMAN NEEDS

Reaching out to those affected was funneled through the Multi-Agency-Resource-Center (MARC) located at
the Taylorville Christian church. Assisting with a myriad of human needs were 30 organizations representing
food, clothing, shelter, legal, long-term housing, health, debris cleanup and spiritual needs of those affected.
in an organized fashion. The MARC was heavily attended by hundreds of residents.

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The City has enjoyed the tremendous efforts of the Southern Baptist Relief Group, Team Rubicon and
Lutheran Disaster relief. I must add that many of these volunteers had just returned the day previous from
relief efforts from the Hurricane Michael.

The American Red Cross and Salvation Army for met the food needs through the hundreds of meals they
served to various groups.

INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

From the onset of the incident, the public craved information. Coordinating this effort on the behalf of CCEMA
was Joe Gaspirich, Gregg Nimmo (Montgomery County EMA), 911 Administrator Mickie Ehrhardt and Coroner
Amy Calvert.

Mr. Gaspirich served as the Public Information Officer coordinating the press conferences twice each day
through Wednesday at the Taylorville City Council. These conferences served as our primary outreach to the
media; each vetted by our Command and General Staff within the EOC.

Serving the residents and taking their questions was left to the other professionals listed above as they
managed the Christian County Severe Weather and Disaster Recovery Facebook page.

From my first call to my IEMA Regional Coordinator Robert Fleming, IEMA staff maintained a permanent seat
in the EOC providing their expertise and coordination of state resource requests.

DISASTER RELATED EXPENDITURES

From the outset, elected officials and superintendents were requested to capture all disaster related expenses
if the incident would drive a federal declaration leading to federal reimbursement dollars.

While it is now clear a Federal Declaration will not come to fruition, you should be made aware of the
associated costs thus far as all departments move into their budget year. Additionally, all departments should
archive these costs to reflect on for future incidents. (See attached spreadsheets).
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Respectfully submitted,

Mike Crews

Christian County Emergency Manager/Taylorville Fire Chief

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