Gov. Blagojevich adds Clinton and Jefferson counties to the state disaster declaration         

Top state disaster response officials discuss coordinated response and cleanup efforts after Metro East storms devastate area

[JULY 24, 2006]  SPRINGFIELD -- On Saturday, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich declared Clinton and Jefferson counties in southwestern Illinois as state disaster areas, following Friday's declaration for St. Clair and Madison counties. [Related article] The governor's deputy chief of staff for public safety, Jill Morgenthaler, and the director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Bill Burke, held a briefing in St. Clair County on Saturday to discuss the state's response and cleanup efforts and new steps being taken to get affected communities back to normal after two storm systems caused significant destruction to the Metro East area, on Wednesday and again on Friday.

"Our state emergency personnel are continuing to work closely with county and local emergency service agencies around the clock in the Metro East area to help restore power and get things back to normal as soon as possible," Blagojevich said. "With today's declarations for Clinton and Jefferson counties, we will be able to help those communities get the support and resources they'll need to recover from the damage and devastation left by this week's storms."

After the Wednesday storms, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and county emergency services and disaster agencies worked with the local Red Cross to establish cooling centers in the area.

When the Friday storms swept through the Metro East area, they caused additional damage to areas just beginning to recover. The storms then continued on a southeastern path through southern Illinois, and several communities in the path were hit hard.

State response efforts included the following:

• State damage assessment teams were dispatched to identify the areas of greatest need and to evaluate the damage. Their assessments were ongoing this weekend, but preliminary assessment observations indicated that most of the problems were related to power outages and damage to sources of drinking water. Excessive heat was a serious problem until Friday, when temperatures dropped from the high levels of earlier in the week.

• The Illinois State Police provided assistance to local law enforcement at cooling centers in East St. Louis on Friday night, and the governor put the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System, the state's law enforcement mutual aid organization, on notice in case of requests for additional support.

• Power is being restored, but nearly 100,000 customers in southwestern Illinois were still without power as of Saturday morning.

• Water pressure had been restored in most of the region by Saturday; however, boil orders remained in place to ensure that the drinking water supply is safe. Among the highest priority response effort is ensuring safe drinking water. Power failures across the area affected public water supply distribution systems, resulting in loss of water pressure and opening the distribution systems to possible contamination. At one point, around 300,000 were affected by loss of a safe drinking water supply.

• The ConocoPhillips refinery also suffered a power outage, causing a shutdown. In order to get the refinery back on line and avoid a fuel shortage in the region, on Friday night Blagojevich ordered the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to expedite the review process for permits needed to install temporary cooling towers at the refinery -- a process that can take 90 days under normal circumstances. Illinois EPA received a permit application to install the towers and is giving the review a top priority. [Related article]

• Blagojevich activated the State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield on Friday to coordinate state response efforts to the storm-ravaged Metro East. The governor also dispatched the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's Unified Area Command vehicle to the Metro East. The unit is providing coordinated assistance with the recovery efforts in the entire region.

Government agencies continue to focus on life safety issues and keeping people without power safe. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency and other state agencies, including the Illinois departments of Transportation and Corrections, stand ready to assist in cleanup efforts if requested to do so.

[News release from the governor's office]