April 25, 2023 |
Photo – North Platte River – Bigfoot99 file photo
All the indicators point toward major flooding this spring and the Carbon County Emergency Management Office is preparing flood-prone communities in the area.
Carbon County’s Office of Emergency Management is preparing for the possibility of heavy flooding.
The past winter has dumped large amounts of snow on the county. Higher elevations have snow-packs well above average, some over 200% higher than normal. With the threat of flooding, hanging over low laying towns in harm’s way, Emergency Manager Lenny Layman is working to ensure the county is ready for an emergency.
During last week’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Layman asked the board to approve two Memorandums of Understanding, or MOUs, with Baggs and Dixon to allow the use of the county’s automatic sandbagging machine. He said Medicine Bow used the machine to fill 2,800 sandbags. The emergency manager said he’ll bring the machine to Baggs, where they’re prepared to fill 12,000 sandbags.
The commissioners approved the MOU’s for the towns of Baggs and Dixon to use the sandbag machine. Layman said he may also draft an MOU for Encampment if flooding looks likely there, as well.
Layman said the machine will be in Baggs for roughly a week before it is transported to Saratoga. The emergency manager said Saratoga will serve as a hub, filling sandbags and shipping them to other towns as needed.
In addition to the two MOUs, Layman asked the board to approve a county-wide declaration of emergency. The emergency manager said he had presented a flooding emergency declaration to County Attorney Ashley Davis, but the state requested a general emergency declaration instead.
Layman informed Attorney Davis that the body of the declaration had not changed, only the title. Layman said the county’s signed emergency declaration would allow him to seek outside assistance, should the county be unable to handle a disaster on its own.
Commissioner John Johnson asked why the county needed to sign a declaration of emergency before an emergency occurred. Layman said the Office of Homeland Security feels that a plausible threat of flooding exists. The emergency manager said the signed document would allow him to arrange for assistance, as quickly as possible. He said the county is not obligated to use the declaration if an emergency does not happen.
Commission Chairwoman Sue Jones said Layman would still be required to alert the board if he were to declare an emergency. Layman reiterated the need for expediency in the event of a disaster. The emergency manager said the declaration would expire after the spring run-off finished, if it was not needed.
The board agreed to sign Layman’s emergency declaration resolution.
Layman said he is working with the Office of Homeland Security to have prisoners in the Wyoming State Penitentiary fill sandbags. He said a test run of a few thousand bags will allow the prison to fine tune their process in the event more bags are needed.
As of Monday of this week–yesterday, Layman reported that around 3,000 sandbags had been filled and are waiting to be picked up by whichever municipality needs them first. If the sandbags aren’t needed in Carbon County, Layman said he would make them available for other counties to use.
