On Dec. 10, a tornado went through five states killing more than 75 peoplein Kentucky and causing billions in damage in total.
How volunteers from Burlington and Kenosha helped Kentucky recover after deadly twisters
From Jan. 3 to Feb. 28, dozens of members of the faith-based Journey Disaster Response Team — which is run by the multisite Journey Church, which has campuses in Kenosha, Burlington, and Beach Park, Illinois — were in Kentucky.
Jeff Berard, Journey DRT’s director, described the scene they found in the rural areas 45 minutes from Paducah, Kentucky.
They found demolished and partially demolished houses, debris everywhere, people living in RVs and at the local state park, and people who had lost everything struggling to clean up so they could get back to their lives.
Some were insured, some were not. Some could clear their property Some could not.
Some were single mothers with small children, others were elderly or had physical limitations.
“What we were greeted with was total devastation,” Berard said and described the subdivisions that looked like a bomb went: It looked like a war zone.
“They really lost everything and then some,” he said.
After their time in Kentucky was over, the members of Journey DRT knew they wanted to do more.
Training coming
They began with the idea of a Regional Disaster Preparation Training Center — for Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties — where folks could get prepared for the worst through disaster training.
Berard explained the intent is to have two parallel training opportunities:
Train people to prepare themselves and their homes for the potential of a disaster, and
- Train people to respond to disasters in their communities
- There’s a phrase people in the disaster response world use, Berard explained, that goes, “All disasters begin and end in the local community.”
That is, helpful people will come and go, but in the beginning of a disaster it will be local people, local families, who suffer, and they’ll still be there in the end after being rebuilt or left behind.
“Based on that, we want to make sure we provide the right resources to the people who are interested, so they can prepare themselves,” Berard said.
Berard said a planning team has been organized who intend to start offering the first classes in summer 2022. That class will be a day-long presentation that helps individuals and/or groups learn to prepare for disaster.
There will be other classes in the future. For example, the classes necessary for people to help in their communities with such skills as learning to handle a chainsaw and heavy equipment operation.
Kentucky
Journey DRT worked with a larger organization in Kentucky, Christ in Action, whose members have been responding to disasters since 1998.
By the time the Wisconsin delegation arrived, Christ in Action members had set up camp and deployed the heavy equipment.
The most immediate need was for debris to be cleared off of properties and stacked by the side of the road where FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) contractors would clear it.
Clearing the properties of debris was one of the biggest challenges, Berard said. Some of those impacted by the tornado had neither the insurance nor the money to get their property cleared.
Due to the work of the volunteers, and the disaster response infrastructure brought by Christ in Action, people were able to have their lots cleared of debris at no cost to them.
The Christ in Action team works exclusively with families, rather than on commercial properties.
DRT
Journey DRT had 15 people volunteer in Kentucky; though, they weren’t all there at the same time.
Berard said people would come for four or five days, as their schedule would allow, but all told the team put in a total of 76 full workdays.
The team focused primarily on demolishing homes that were no longer safe for human habitation.
Due to Journey DRT’s experience in Kentucky, more people are interested in becoming involved.
“It has sparked the interest of a great number of people,” Berard said. “We’ve had a lot of interest from people who want to know more about what we do and how can they get involved.”
Southeastern Wisconsin does not tend to have tornadoes or earthquakes or wildfires, but that does not mean the state is immune to disasters.
Any number of things could result in people having to shelter-in-place for 72 hours or thereabouts, and they should be prepared, he said.
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