WEATHERING THE STORM
STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES First responders and City staff share their accounts of the disaster.
HEIDI D’ARCY
Dispatcher II, Joint Communications Agency
A few minutes before an official warning is issued by the National Weather Service, dispatchers can hear the meteorologist preparing for the broadcast alert. “He sounded flustered and said to take shelter immediately. Three minutes before the derecho hit, we knew it was going to be serious,” Heidi D’Arcy recalls as she was working on the third floor of the Police Station in the City’s Joint Communications Agency.
Three minutes before the derecho hit, we knew it was going to be serious.” It was a day like no other for D’Arcy, who has been a telecommunicator for over ten years. As the floor was vibrating and the windows were bowing, dispatchers remained calm and attempted to answer as many 911 calls as possible. At one time, over 250 fire calls were stacked up waiting for first responders to be dispatched. D’Arcy’s first storm-related call was a semi-truck driver who was on U.S. Interstate 380 northbound near Diagonal Drive who was concerned for his safety as winds were increasing and wanted to know if he could get help locating a place to park. D’Arcy subsequently directed him to Valor Way SW, where he safely remained during the storm. “One of my most memorable calls was a girl babysitting her little brother. They had gone to a storm shelter but the lock on the outside door broke because of the strong winds. I used our dispatch tornado protocol and instructed the children to grab pillows and blankets, and get into the bathtub in the interior of the home to stay safe. The young girl did such a good job with the directions, even though I knew they had to be really scared at home alone.” It would not be until 12:30 a.m. the next day that fire and police calls were no longer stacked up waiting for first responders to be dispatched. D’Arcy said, “We did the best that we could given the situation.” She is proud of her coworkers, even recalling how one dispatcher rode a bike to get to work even though her own house was damaged by the derecho.
OFFICER TYLER RICHARDSON
Police Officer
Police officers were on patrol throughout the city at 12:30 p.m. on August 10 when the derecho impacted the community. Officer Tyler Richardson, a 10-year veteran of the Police Department, was in the 1600 block of Second Avenue SE when power lines and trees started to fall onto the roadway. “There were a lot of big trees in the area and I knew that I needed to get out of there before one fell on my car,” said Richardson. As he drove onto First Avenue past Brucemore, Richardson saw that a tree had fallen onto a car near 20th Street. Despite winds over 100 miles per hour, torrential rainfall, and debris flying throughout the air, he exited his police vehicle to see if anyone needed assistance. He found a woman inside the car. The driver’s side door wouldn’t open, but Richardson was able to open the passenger side door, which was partially blocked by a tree limb. Richardson
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NOVEMBER 2020
