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Personnel Assessment Plan Floods have always been some of the most serious natural disasters in the United States. They have resulted in many human lives and billions of dollars of economical losses for the country. The valley of the Mississippi river has been historically an unsafe place for people to live. Every spring and summer there is a danger of a flood or a flash flood in that area.
In the recent years, however, both state and federal governments have worked hard to make the river safe for people in adjacent areas. Numerous levees and dams were constructed on the river, the National Weather Service, the NCAR and other agencies are closely watching the situation. However, even the latest technological developments and human efforts are sometimes just helpless against the mighty disaster. As the American Indians say, nothing and nobody can compete or intervene with the Mother Nature.
The Town of Marion Marion, Arkansas, is a small rural town, which is located just some 30 miles from the Mississippi River. It is a typical midwestern rural town, which carries out a function of an administrative, social and financial center for the ranchos and farms that surround it. The population of the town itself is only about 1000 people, which is mainly composed of the service industry workers. This little town has all the necessary facilities in it such as church, bank, insurance company, doctors office, post office, fire department, sheriffs office, hairdresser, small hotel, diners and some privately owned stores.
People who live outside the town come to Marion every time they need something. Children of farmers and those who live in town attend the school, which is located downtown and combines elementary, junior high and high schools in one building. The school bus goes around the ranchos and picks up children who cannot drive to school themselves. There are about 30 ranchos around the town. The inhabitants of those ranchos or farms have two main kinds of occupations: they either breed broiler chickens or grow cotton. Most of these people were in this business for some generations and know everything about it.
Even if there are some newcomers in the area, locals know each other pretty well. They socialize in town, their children go to school together and, in general, they have many other shared aspects of their lives. People of Marion mostly have similar backgrounds, education, lifestyles, religious views and social statuses. These people live in a community, where everybody is on his own most of the time, but once the need comes, they tend to unite. This was the case when the epidemic of chickens skin disease was spreading all over the state, and farmers of Marion united to disinfect their farms.
The Johnson Family On one of the many ranchos of Marion, there lives the Johnson family. The father of the family, Tim, is also the head of the family broiler business. He not only hires people, watches and controls the production process, but also deals with the paper work for the business. He is a typical busy bee. Tim never sits still despite of his not young years, - he is 56. His grandfather set the farm and the rancho and it was first passed to Tims father and then to Tim himself.
This person is a real doer he does not talk much, but does things once they were decided upon. Tim is very respected among his neighbors, because he always keeps his word and is very reliable. Tims wife Darla is a very pleasant woman. She is a good wife, a good cook and a good Christian.
She always knows everything that is going on in the area. Darla is now 54, and has devoted 32 years of her life to her husband and the children. She is very happy to be with the people she loves and regrets that her younger ones, Marline and David, who live and study in New York, come home only for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Darla is very much like her husband Tim and she treats her duties very seriously. In her entire life she never gave empty promises. Darla is a sweetheart and everybody in Marion knows that.
People come to her for advice and just to talk. The younger Johnson, named John, is a real son of his father. He has been trained to work hard since the very early childhood and is well prepared to take the business in his hands after his father retires. John is only 27, but he can firmly stand on his feet by now and is very self-confidant. He does not have so many friends because people often perceive him as being a bit snobby and selfish. John has never had a chance to get education beyond the high school because he was always busy at home.
Being the oldest child in the Johnson family was putting some additional duties on his shoulders at times. This, however, also made John very independent very early and he got married in the 11 th grade at the age of 17. Even though his father Tim is still in business, John is now the head of the family. He makes the most important decisions and his father always listens to his advice.
One of the things John has to learn is how to do the paperwork, but otherwise, he is completely capable of running such a big business himself. Johns wife, Rebecca, is a year younger than her husband. She moved to Marion to live with her uncle and aunt when she was 14. Uncle Ben and aunt Mary lived in town and both worked at the bank there.
They never had their own children and gladly adopted Becky after Bens sister and her husband died tragically in a car crash in Colorado. Rebecca was treated like a princess there and both Ben and Mary did a lot for her education. She was one of the best students at her school. John Johnson and Rebecca went to school together and dated for 3 years before they got married. These two people really complete each other.
Rebecca is a very social person and quickly establishes a good rapport with people. She volunteers at school and organizes parties for the children there. Whenever there is an important event, Rebecca is always the first one to take the initiative in her hands. John and Rebecca have two young children Charlotte and Donald. The older one, Charlotte is beautiful 5 -year-old girl. She is very well developed both mentally and physically for her age.
Rebecca gives her a lot of time and energy. Charlotte can already count and read, she also can dial numbers on the phone. Her little brother Donald is also a little genius. He is only three and is very interested in everything that is going on. He asks many questions and knows a lot for his age. Both children are used to helping their parents and grandparents when it comes to feeding the chickens, giving them water and making their houses nice and warm.
Bad News Because most inhabitants of Marion and its suburbs are engaged in farming activities, their lives and well being heavily rely on weather conditions and luck, in a sense. That area is definitely not the most stable area in the sense of its weather and natural conditions. People are quite used to tornados and especially floods. There has not been a serious flood, since the one of 1993. After the construction of levees and visit of President Clinton, who was born and raised in the state of Arkansas, locals feel quite safe and protected from the possible danger. People of Marion are living their regular lives performing their daily routines not suspecting that the disaster is not long to wait for now.
On the 7 th of June, there came a report on one of the local radio stations about the possibility of a very severe rainfall in Arkansas, areas adjacent to the Mississippi River. The scientists predicted that this rainfall could last from 4 to 6 days nonstop. They also said that the possibility of such rain starting was about 90 %. The local inhabitants perfectly knew what this kind of a rain could mean for them. Many of them remembered the flood of 1993 and how it all was starting. That flood was caused by a stalled high-pressure system over the Atlantic Coast, which impeded the normal west-to-east movement of weather systems.
Winds from this high-pressure area whipped moist air up from the Gulf of Mexico to the Midwest, feeding rainstorms there. Because of prolonged wet spells in the region during the preceding winter and spring, the ground was already soaked when the summer rains came. The new water rushed into storm drains and streams and sent river levels shooting up, while the East Coast baked in a heat wave caused by the same stalled weather system, and the crops of farmers in Georgia and the Carolinas withered in the fields in a drought. The Midwestern flood region was reported to be up to three times the normal amount of rainfall. People in Marion, as probably most people in the Midwest, know that normally, when it rains, some of the water is retained by the soil, some is absorbed by vegetation, and some evaporates. However, when the rain has not been stopping for a long time, there stays the remainder of the water, which reaches stream channels and is called runoff.
Floods occur when soil and vegetation cannot absorb all the water; water then runs off the land in quantities that cannot be carried in stream channels or retained in natural ponds and constructed reservoirs. Floods were known in this area to not only damage property and endanger the lives of humans and animals, but to have other effects as well. Rapid runoffs can cause soil erosion as well as sediment deposition problems downstream. Many farmers can loose their occupation for a long time or even permanently.
Flood can mean bankruptcy and loss of the life stock for many. High-velocity currents increase flood damage; prolonged high floods delay traffic and interfere with drainage and economic use of lands. Bridge abutments, bank lines, sewer outfalls, and other structures within floodway's are damaged, and navigation and hydroelectric power are often impaired. Financial losses due to floods are commonly millions of dollars each year. Preparations for the Flood Once inhabitants of Marion heard the information about the possible prolonged rain, John Johnson decided that he had to do something. He felt that it was better to be safe than sorry, especially remembering what had happened 8 years ago.
Back than, his father was fully insured and their family got a good package from the government to start the business over and rebuilt their rancho. John was just getting ready to take the farm fully in his hands and the prospects of loosing it did not seem cheerful to him. Moreover, he did not want to take a chance and risk his own life and the lives of his loved ones. That is why John decided to take the initiative in his hands and try to save not only his farm and family, but also the town as much as it was possible.
For that purpose, he asked his wife Rebecca to call their neighbors and organize a meeting for all of them at their house. People were overwhelmed with such bad news, but everybody showed up at the specified time and place. It was decided that it was necessary to prepare well for the flood and because not just one rancho would suffer from the disaster, they all had to unite and act together. For that purpose John, as the person who initiated the meeting, was selected to be the leader of this anti-flood operation. His wife Rebecca was to be Johns helper. As soon as the leader is chosen some decisive measures have to be taken.
Rebecca, as an assistant of her husband, has to find out all the information possible about floods. She has to call the Red Cross or any of the emergency management offices in that area. She will most probably find out about some of the very basic things that are usually done to reduce the flood damage. The first thing to do would probably be to advise all the members of their community to check what kind of insurances they have...
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