Disaster Preparedness Panel discusses effort following Hurricane Helene, Palisades Fire and Texas flooding.
In the past year, different areas of the United States have been drastically impacted by natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and flooding. Those impacted include members of the American Legion Family.
On Aug. 23 during the Legion’s national convention in Tampa, Fla., three of those members shared their stories of how the Legion Family dealt with those disasters – and how it stepped up to assist others in their communities.
The Disaster Preparedness Panel featured Legionnaires from North Carolina (Hurricane Helene), California (the Palisades Fire) and Texas (the Kerr County Flood). Also on the panel was a member of Team Rubicon, a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises.
The panel was moderated by American Legion National Security Director Sean Counihan. “With what seems to be an increase in the frequency of natural disasters in our country – and the catastrophic effects – it’s the right time to reenergize this program,” he said. “And let our communities know that veterans, we are trained to respond calmly, and we will get the mission done. Let’s be leaders in our communities.”
Expect the Unexpected. Hurricane Helene, which hit the Atlantic Coast last September as a Category 4 hurricane, resulted in 252 fatalities and caused more than $78 billion in damage. And Legionnaire Wayne Mihelich, a former Department of North Carolina division commander at the time of the hurricane and a member of Post 29 in Lenoir, N.C., saw up-close the damage.
He said he began calling his district commander to get status updates, but many communications were down. “I had no connectivity,” he said. “The landlines were down. The cell phone didn’t work. Wi-Fi calling was great, but you’ve got to have power. It didn’t work.
“But I did find, by accident … the place that had connectivity. I happened to go over to the hospital … and all of the sudden I had four bars (on my phone). Because the hospital, they had connectivity. Just something to think about, because you need to find out what’s going on.”
No Legionnaires lost their lives during Helene. Post 317 in Marshall was destroyed, but, “They rebuilt it,” Mihelich said. “That’s the resilience. They’re on their way back.”
Mihelich said the department set up a committee to manage financial donations for those impacted. “That committee of all of the district commanders gets together about where we’re going to put money out,” he said. “This is an ongoing thing. In North Carolina, they’re saying this probably is going to be a 10- to 15-year, multi-billion-dollar evolution to put things back.”
Mihelich’s No. 1 piece of advice? “The first thing I would say if you’re ever involved in something like this is expect the unexpected, because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “No way did we ever think that this storm … was going to kind of stall out, for lack of better words, and put down up to … 33 inches of rain. The reality is we don’t know how much actually came down.”
Post-Helene relief efforts included Legion Family members from across the nation (see here and here). Mihelich thanked all who sent aid and mentioned the efforts of Devereaux Post 141 in Howell, Mich., by name.
“That post probably made at least six trips down to North Carolina,” he said. “What started out at one point was going to be a three-vehicle caravan ended up 13 vehicles with an 18-wheeler full of water. We distributed it all over North Carolina. I had the opportunity to visit the post … and give them a thank you from us to them. Again, thank you everybody for what you did.”
Doing What Legionnaires Do. Last January, the Palisades Fire got its start in the Santa Monica Mountains. But by the time it ended, it had burned 23,448 acres, killed 12 people, and destroyed 6,837 structures.
Jim Cragg, past commander of Ronald Reagan-Palisades Post 283, didn’t lose his house. And despite most everything around be burned down, Post 283 stood standing, becoming a beacon of hope for the community, but even before the fire, the community viewed the post as one of its vital components.
“We had first run first aid courses for free … to get our community to know that in a time of need, you could also look to your veterans. You could look to The American Legion,” he said. “(After the fire), right there is our Legion post, bright as day. Lights on, ready to go.”
Cragg saw a lot in his 30 years in the U.S. Army Reserve. But the fire was something different. “I’ve been to war. Thirty years and this is the worst I’ve seen,” he said. “And this is my family.”
But the experience, Cragg said, “took me back to that ethos. We’re veterans. We prepare ourselves mentally. We’re trained to deal in austere environments. And I’ve got 10,000 families around us. Who do they have to go to?
“We ended doing what was natural to us as Legionnaires. We took care of each other. As the people started coming in (to Post 283), it started to turn into its own disaster center. But it was more than that. It was a hub. This was a place to come that was secure, to feel safe, to feel guidance, to feel inspiration, to feel leadership.”
Cragg now is part of a Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG), which he said will connect Palisade fire victims to millions in recovery resources. Cragg also placed 10 U.S. flags at entry points into the Palisades. “You see the Stars and Stripes blowing in the wind, full color, saying, ‘Your country’s here for you’,” Cragg said.
A 100-Year Flood. On July 4, heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to rise 26 inches in less than hour. The resulting flooding caused 137 fatalities, including 117 in Kerr County.
The water rose to the parking lot at American Legion Post 208 in Kerrville but didn’t move past that. And almost immediately, the post set up as a relief center for first responders in the area for recovery efforts.
“We had to flip everything on the spot,” Post 208 Commander Robert Garcia said, noting the effort is ongoing. “Today, we’re still supplying FEMA. The American Legion … with truckloads of supplies.”
Garcia spent 30 years in law enforcement. “It did not prepare me for this,” he said. “All those years … did not prepare me to see the devastation to the bodies in the water.”
As the effort shifted from search-and-rescue to clean-up, the post continues to ask what it can provide to assist. “It takes planning. It takes commitment, preparation and sharing information,” Garcia said. “It’s a slow recovery, and it’s going to take years.”
The Ability to Respond. Jon Connors, a Marine Corps veteran and Team Rubicon’s communications director, said veterans “have the ability to respond to disasters because we’ve been through the training. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in combat 20 times or if you were working in a supply hub in Mississippi in three years and then you got out. We’ve all been taught to deal with uncertainty, to deal with change and to be able to respond appropriately. When the s--t hits the fan, communities know that they can count on veterans.”
Connors said that organizations like the Legion and Team Rubicon are even more valuable as natural disasters occur more frequently. “You hear the phrase ‘100-year flood,’” he said. “If you haven’t noticed, those are happening more and more frequently. Twenty years ago, there was a billion-dollar disaster every 82 days in this country. Now, there’s a billion-dollar disaster every 17 days. The weather’s getting worse. The weather’s hitting us harder. It’s the community aspect ... the Legion provides, and also organizations like ours, to help our communities get back on our feet.”
- Convention