Guard Prepares for Potential Flood

March 15, 2010
Courtesy of North Dakota National Guard Public Affairs
Bismarck, ND, United States

The North Dakota National Guard (NDNG) spent three days in February responding to a simulated flood. It's a comprehensive training exercise for a scenario that could potentially become a reality this spring.

"This is another example of the National Guard's commitment to preparedness," said Gov. John Hoeven. "Whether home or abroad, the dedicated men and women of our Guard are always ready, willing and able when duty calls."

The training exercise involved nearly 50 people and took place at Fraine Barracks Joint Operations Center, which would be the coordinating center in case of an actual emergency. The entire weekend was dedicated to further preparing the NDNG for potential flooding scenarios this spring.

The JOC has ten television monitors positioned to be seen by all participants, providing updated and timely information. Members of the Air and Army National Guard in the JOC respond to various operations and scenarios sent down by the White Cell, the room controlling the exercise, as if the events were actually happening.

Some of the situations participants responded to during the exercise included: downed power lines, service members who had volunteered for flood duty but had just been released from blizzard duty, and how to quickly and efficiently return a volunteer home if they had a family emergency. While responding to these variables, different areas of responsibility within the Guard also must assign troops to different statewide locations to assist in sandbagging and handle all other aspects of the operation, such as legal and logistical.

"White Cell sets into motion the chain of events that different staff sections will have to respond to," said Lieutenant Colonel Fred Parks. Parks was one of the individuals working in White Cell to create the flood scenarios that needed a response. Parks said they began planning for this exercise months ago.

Lieutenant Colonel Rick Smith, director of the Public Information Office, said the role playing of many different scenarios was no different from the training done before deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The overall goal for the Guard is to be prepared for anything.

"Basically the scenario is trying to show what April will be like," said Smith, "So that if or when we have flooding, we've already had dress rehearsals and we're ready to go. We have also implemented our lessons learned from the historic 2009 flood."

Air Force Colonel Mike Wobbema, the deputy director of the Joint Staff, was acting as Joint Staff for the exercise. "We are reconfirming that what we did last year was good," said Wobbema. "The exercise puts together all the things people have been doing to prepare."

"You don't know if it will be successful until you bring everything together as a team," said Wobbema. "What the troop in the field needs to know, is there's a deliberate planning and execution process behind the scene to effectively conduct the mission."

Wobbema said that after the cleanup from last year's flooding, there were several thousand sandbags left over as well as other equipment, which has since been stored in six Conex Containers strategically placed in the state such as in Fargo and Devils Lake, which have shown to be more prone to flooding. This will provide quick access to helpful equipment in the event of flooding.

"The key thing is to learn based on our experiences," said Wobbema.

The NDNG has nearly 2,700 Guard members available to respond in the event of flooding or other possible threats, as well as equipment such as bulldozers, loaders, dump trucks, helicopters, water purification equipment, pumps and generators. The North Dakota Guard also has a partnership with surrounding states called an Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The EMAC is a pre-coordinated partnership with Minnesota, Montana. and South Dakota to provide assistance to North Dakota within 72 hours if needed.

The North Dakota National Guard regularly conducts exercises to enhance and maintain emergency preparedness for state emergencies. The Guard serves as a support element, and when called upon would respond with equipment and personnel to the needed areas of the state. The North Dakota National Guard works with local, state and federal emergency responders in collaboration with the N.D. Department of Emergency Services to assist the state and communities with any emergencies.