DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – A local professor who has written books on disaster recovery is speaking out about the response to Hurricane Harvey.
Lucy Arendt is a business management professor at St. Norbert College, who made multiple trips to Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina to study the topic.
“I would describe (the Harvey response) as well-coordinated. The interdependence between the local and state and federal (governments), it all seems to be working pretty smoothly.”
Arendt explains what should be local leaders top priority, once their residents are brought to safety.
“Start figuring out, how are we going to get these people to regular, more-permanent housing, make sure that utilities are online as quickly as possible.”
She notes those officials will be busy in the coming weeks, saying they also need to work on the initial steps of rebuilding the community.
“How are we going to manage debris? How are we going to make sure that the streets are open? How are we going to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to help businesses get back online?”
Arendt says leaders need to display both optimism and decisiveness.
“There’s no such thing as going back. There’s no community that’s ever gone through a major disaster that ever returned to the way it used to be.”
Arendt notes flood-ravaged communities will likely be able to reach out to neighboring municipalities with whom they have previous understandings to provide various services for the time being.
