| "Winter
came early last week when Illinois was
blanketed by heavy snow and ice,"
Blagojevich said. "I'm declaring these
counties as disasters to help local
governments with cleanup. We've dispatched
National Guard troops and state medical teams
to go door-to-door in some cases to make sure
people are OK. I've said it before and I'll
say it again -- as long as people need help,
we'll work with local officials to get it to
them."
Blagojevich declared 49 counties disaster
areas due to record or near-record snowfall
and extraordinary ice formations: Adams, Bond,
Boone, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Cass,
Champaign, Christian, DeKalb, DeWitt, Fulton,
Greene, Hancock, Henry, Jersey, Kendall, Knox,
LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon,
Macoupin, Madison, Marshall, Mason, McLean,
McDonough, McHenry, Menard, Morgan, Monroe,
Montgomery, Ogle, Peoria, Piatt, Pike, Putnam,
Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, St. Clair,
Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Winnebago and
Woodford.
The gubernatorial proclamation will assist
the Illinois Emergency Management Agency in
coordinating state resources, including the
Illinois National Guard, to support local
governments in their disaster response and
recovery efforts.
On Tuesday, the governor also directed
inmate crews and state trucks to assist
communities with debris cleanup. Two Illinois
Department of Corrections inmate crews,
totaling 26, will be in Nokomis on Wednesday
and Thursday for debris removal, along with
three trucks and an end loader from the
Illinois Department of Transportation. One
eight-person inmate work crew and two
Department of Transportation trucks and an end
loader are assisting Mechanicsburg with debris
removal on Wednesday. In addition, an
eight-person inmate team will assist with
debris removal in Kincaid on Wednesday through
Friday.
Illinois Army National Guard soldiers began
their door-to-door mission Tuesday morning in
Decatur to help local officials ensure the
health and welfare of area residents.
Guardsmen visited more than 1,000 homes and
are continuing their efforts on Wednesday.
Personnel from the following central Illinois
units have been placed on state active duty to
support local officials: Company A, 2nd
Battalion, 106th Aviation, based in Pontiac;
Company D, 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry,
based in Salem; and the Springfield-based
233rd Military Police Company. The more than
250 soldiers are distributing emergency
information, as well as gathering information
in the affected neighborhoods regarding status
of services, blocked streets or intersections,
trapped vehicles, and other information that
will be useful to police, fire and other
emergency departments.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 108,000
homes were still without electricity in
Illinois, nearly 38,000 of those in the
Decatur area.
On Nov. 28, with weather forecasts
indicating a possible severe winter storm, the
Illinois Emergency Management Agency began
preparing for possible activation of the State
Emergency Operations Center by reaching out to
state agency liaisons and gathering pre-event
information on available assets and response
capabilities. The emergency center has been
activated since the evening of Nov. 30 to
monitor storm conditions and work with local
officials on any state assistance needed. The
center will remain activated as long as
necessary. To date the state has assisted in
several ways, including the following:
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top of second column]
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More
than 500 troops from the Illinois Army
National Guard helped ensure the safety of
citizens on Saturday and Sunday. About 100
Guardsmen were sent to East St. Louis,
where they conducted more than 800
door-to-door checks on citizens, while
others checked for stranded motorists at
rest stops and along interstate highways
from the I-80 corridor down to I-70.
-
An
18-member Illinois Medical Emergency
Response Team was dispatched to Decatur to
provide medical care at a shelter for
special needs individuals at Richland
Community College. So far, 11 area
residents are at the shelter.
-
Four
inmate crews with a total of 52 inmates
began working in Taylorville on Monday to
assist the Taylorville Street Department
with storm debris removal. In addition,
eight trucks from the Illinois Department
of Transportation will assist with hauling
debris.
-
More
than 120 cots from the Illinois National
Guard and 600 meals were delivered by
staff from the Department of Central
Management Services to four shelters in
St. Clair County.
-
The
state dispatched a mobile command vehicle
from Bloomington and an Illinois
Transportable Emergency Communications
System from Champaign to Decatur to aid
with the emergency response effort. The
equipment was purchased with the state's
homeland security funding but is available
for use during any type of emergency.
-
Using
an Illinois National Guard Black Hawk
helicopter, an Illinois Department of
Transportation truck, Illinois Department
of Natural Resources snowmobiles and an
Illinois State Police four-wheel drive
vehicle, 200 meals were delivered to
stranded travelers at a rest area along
I-80 near Princeton on Friday evening, and
another 200 were delivered to stranded
motorists at a rest area east of
Galesburg. In addition, IDOT Aeronautics
provided disaster intelligence to the
State Emergency Operations Center via a
helicopter flying above the rest stop.
-
The
Illinois National Guard used equipment and
personnel to assist with moving a small
passenger jet at the Peoria Airport after
the jet broke down, blocking the gate
area.
-
To
date, more than 1,700 Department of
Transportation trucks have plowed more
than 325,000 miles along Illinois
interstates and highways.
-
Hundreds
of people have sought a warm place to
spend the night at several shelters
established by the American Red Cross.
-
The
State Emergency Operations Center is
coordinating with local emergency
management officials on assistance needed
in their communities as they respond to
the ice, heavy snow and strong winds.
[News
release from the governor's office]
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