Reduced Crews Respond to Weekend Rain Event

Jun 11th, 2012

Torrential rain pounded the Mobile area over the weekend, causing major flooding and down trees which restricted traffic on various thoroughfares. The city’s budget crisis impacted workers emergency response time as they scrambled to retrieve parked take home vehicles; locate appropriate working equipment and determine how city crews would be paid for working through midnight on Sunday.

Mayor Sam Jones was onsite Sunday night surveying the restricted areas as city crews were dispatched.

Departments that responded included Urban Development, Public Works and the Police Department.

The departments also faced aging equipment which was out of order this weekend. The equipment included two bucket trucks and two Barco loaders in the Urban Forestry Department.

The Barco loaders are the most critical pieces of equipment needed in emergency call-outs, like the one Mobile experienced this weekend. The claw-like equipment lifts large logs and limbs out of the street once they have been cut up. Urban Development ended up borrowing Public Works Barco Loader, which delayed response time.

The departments equipment needs, cited in a March 8 letter from the mayor to the City Council, would have been addressed had the City Council approved a penny sales tax measure.

Due to the city’s budget crisis, both Urban Development and Public Works had take home vehicles removed from its fleet and parked at city facilities on June 1. Most of the vehicles are normally are driven by supervisors who are the first responders in the event of an emergency.

Trees were in the following thoroughfares (all trees have been removed):

 Spring Hill Avenue at Union Street;
 Spring Hill Avenue, east of Tuthill Lane;
 1321 Dauphin Street;
 Azalea Road and Woodmont Drive;
 Cottage Hill Rd at Japonica Lane;
 Near 2461 Idonia Ave.;
 907 Kendrick Dr.;
 Dauphin Island Pkwy and Senator St.

“This weekend further reiterated our lack of resources - people and equipment. We responded only to the absolute minimum of major trees down on major streets,” said Laura Clarke, Director of Urban Development. “The rest were barricaded until we had crews and equipment.”

Clarke said Urban Development was only able to work about 8 of the 45 Service Request Orders for downed trees and major limbs that came in. “Normally with full staff and equipment, we would have been able to work them all,” she added.

If Public Works’ Barco Loader had not been accessible, the Spring Hill Avenue, Dauphin Island Parkway and Cottage Hill Road trees would have had to remain in place until at least Monday when people and equipment could have been available or a contractor could have been located.