Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 1 of 3 · from the scan, no model involved
Being prepared
Rappahannock County was spared the ravages of Hurricane Hugo last Friday.
Early morning predictions of four to eight inches of rain and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour were hastily revised by the National Weather Service when the storm took a more westerly track, dumping its moisture on the Shenandoah Valley and sparing the counties to the east.
But the county was ready, had the storm taken the path predicted during those early morning hours.
Though we are happy that Hugo decided to bypass Rappahannock on his journey northward into the hurricane history books, we are also grateful for the emergency preparations taken by the county’s officals.
From Col. Dieter Knuepfer, the county’s emergency coordinator, to Sheriff John Henry Woodward and his department’s deputies and dispatchers, to Doug Bywaters and the county’s highway department employees, to School Superintendent Dr. David Gangel and his people, the Social Services staff and the volunteers of the county’s fire and rescue departments, the county was prepared for the worst.
An emergency shelter was designated, with staff prepared to fix hot food and drinks for any evacuees displaced • by rising waters. Fire and rescue crews placed on stand-by, ready to respond to requests for evacuations or for stormrelated illnesses and injuries. All members of the Sheriff’s Department were on call had their services been needed for evacuations, traffic control or other duties. The Virginia Department of Transportation had crews ready to clear highways of downed trees and other debris, and to set up roadblocks on flood-closed roads.
When the storm seemed destined to hit the county on Friday, plans made Thursday for schools opening as usual Friday morning were revised. Dr. Gangel and the School Board decided that the children would be safer at home, and >. cancelled classes that day.
Though the disaster plans were, thankfully, not needed, we’re glad they were in place. It is far better to be overprepared for a calamity which never materializes than to be unprepared for an emergency which does.
There are always those few Monday morning quarterbacks who will question the preparations, wondering
why the time and effort was spent when it was not ac/ually needed.
To those folks we can only point toward Charleston, South Carolina and other areas which took the brunt of the storm and say, “There, but for the grace of God, are we.”
97.2%