University of Minnesota, St Louis County Extension held a free emergency preparedness workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Freya Thurmer, Extension Educator for St Louis County, and Seth Spencer, educator with the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership.
The workshop opened with an exercise based on the derecho that blew through the Boundary Waters on July 4th, 1999. A line of thunderstorms wielding wind-power of up to 100mph flattened over 750 miles of forest. The natural disaster was personally experienced by many in attendance to the workshop, and led to reflection on the intense emotions emergencies can evoke.
“Often, a county or a city has a really good plan…for making it to the hospital quickly, or to keep the major roads open,” said Spencer, “but your neighborhood is often very far down the line of priorities, so that’s where individual preparedness is really important.”
