November 16, 2007
Contact:
 Anna Gustafson
717-787-2637
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Senate Update
by
Senator James J. Rhoades

As temperatures drop and winter approaches, many district residents have expressed concerns about the state's ability to deal with winter storm emergencies. Last February, poor storm response by state agencies allowed hundreds of motorists to be stranded on I-78, I-81, I-80 and other roadways in freezing temperatures for almost a full day. The National Guard was forced to mobilize to bring food, fuel and supplies to motorists stranded on a 50-mile stretch of the Interstate in our district.

In the aftermath of the botched storm response, my Senate colleagues and I dug deeper to uncover the flaws in the system to improve the state's emergency response system. A report from James Lee Witt Associates cited multiple failures in planning and communications that led to the failures in responding to the weather conditions. The Witt Report made several recommendations to help the state respond to future emergencies.

The Senate Transportation Committee and Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee recently held a joint hearing with the Secretary of Transportation, the State Police Commissioner and the Director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to check on the progress of the Administration in implementing the recommendations of the report. These agencies reported that they have made important changes to clearly define emergency operations plans, improve communications between agencies and share information with the public.

I believe that these improvements are a step in the right direction, but we need to do everything in our power to ensure that we don't have a repeat of the Valentine's Day debacle. The state's failure to manage the Valentine's Day storm is completely unacceptable, and we must press forward to make the necessary changes to ensure that we can manage every aspect of an emergency quickly and effectively.
 

Senator Rhoades represents the 29th Senatorial District, which includes all of Schuylkill County and parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton Counties.