Late in the evening on December 11th, 2008, a large storm system hit New Hampshire. Throughout the evening and into the next morning the system dumped large amounts of freezing rain on the region with some areas reporting over 2 inches of ice accumulation. The ice knocked down countless trees and felled power lines across the state. Utility crews were soon overwhelmed. Over half of the state's population was without power on the morning of December 11th. Critical infrastructure was damages throughout the state. Communication lines and towers were heavily damaged and difficult to access. Many towns water systems were shut down for days. Warning systems in towns near both the Seabrook nuclear power plant and the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant were on their last drops of emergency fuel and were on the brink of shutting down. The state's emergency response systems were put into action, and localities quickly established mechanisms to deal with the needs of their residents.
Overwhelmed utility crews worked 24 hours a day to restore power but were hit with two more significant snow storms over the next three weeks. Crews from other areas of the country as well as Canada were called in. Some towns were stuck for nearly two weeks without power and emergency crews were burdened with additional carbon monoxide poisoning from generators. Requests for restored power often fell on sympathetic but unresponsive ears as the State and localities had no prioritized list of how power should be restored. Vulnerable populations were sometimes placed in extreme danger. Hospitals were running on their dwindling emergency power systems and communities serving the elderly were placed in very precarious situations. The 2008 ice storm was the largest natural disaster in New Hampshire history. State and local government as well as utility companies and private citizens worked their hardest to mitigate the damaging effects of the storm, and many positive lessons can be extracted from the general response. There were, however, some very serious issues with the response that could have put many lives at risk.
This case study will present the experience of Greeham, New Hampshire, a community of 18,000 residents in the Seacoast region. It will follow the experiences of four people on the frontlines of the emergency response; town manager Bill Raliegh, police patrolman Dennis Daugherty, PSNH utility crewman Jim Baskind, and emergency shelter volunteer Ann Richards. When examined through the four frames presented in Boleman and Deal's Reframing Organizations, a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the response to the 2008 Ice Storm should emerge.
This case study is a fictional representation of a town in the 2008 Ice Storm. It is based on a compilation of resources, molded together to create the story.
