By now, I am sure you have heard the weather forecast for fall and winter will be much different than last year.

Last year’s El Niño-type weather pattern did not produce the heavy rains that bring high river flows and flooding. It appears to be a La Niña-type weather pattern this year, similar to what we saw in 2007-08. This does not mean we will have massive floods or storms, but it does mean we all need to be prepared.

During October, we will close down three of the four openings in the HESCO flood wall in front of the City Park. The entrance at the far west end will remain open until it appears we have flooding issues.

As the White River is a dam-controlled river and the Mud Mountain Dam is required to control flooding on the Puyallup River downstream from Pacific, we should have a minimum of a two- or three-day notice of any flooding here. We will close off that remaining opening to the flood wall prior to any increased releases from the dam.

There are two websites with river flow information you can visit to track real time info and forecast. The first is a NOAH site for Mud Mountain Dam www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/river/station/flowplot/flowplot.cgi?MMRW1. The other is a USGS site that will gauge the river flow as it is passes through our city http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=12100496&PARAmeter_cd=00060,00065.

In addition to the websites, we will be working with the Army Corps of Engineers, King County Flood Plain Management and others to track river conditions and report any changes forecast. Even with a repeat of conditions from the 2009 flood, we should not see homes impacted because of the HESCO wall and other preparedness made last year.

Worthwhile training

I recently was asked what I intend to do with my emergency management training. Was I using my office to set myself up in a new career or setting myself up to be a paid consultant?

My primary intention is to use what I have learned for the betterment of our city’s overall preparedness. Although I very well may work in emergency management some day in the future, my goals now are to help prepare this city.

Since taking office, I have taken the opportunity to attend many classes funded by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. These classes are available to any elected official who wishes to dedicate time to take them.

I am proud of the fact that I have taken advantage of these resources, earning credentials as an instructor for CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) and ICS (Incident Command System). Those skills have allowed me the opportunity to train our residents. I am proud to be one of a handful of elected officials who has become a master exercise practitioner, which allows me to write, conduct and evaluate disaster exercises. These credentials have allowed our city to build a training and exercise program at minimum cost to our taxpayers.

To clarify, my disaster preparedness training has not been funded by local taxes. Furthermore, the City has not had to hire consultants or contract with outside agencies to write our plan, conduct our training or design our exercises. This has potentially saved our citizens thousands of dollars.

Our work is being noticed nationally, and we are seen as leaders in this field.

I was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to represent all cities in Washington on the State Emergency Management Council. In this position, I have made sure that small local government voices are heard clearly in Olympia as our state develops public policy surrounding emergency management.

Reach Richard Hildreth at PacificMayor@aol.com.