GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay residents exploded at city leaders last night, demanding answers over the East River flood response in March.
City leaders held an informational meeting to discuss the flooding event and gather information on how to improve it.
“We felt like we were all living on an island all by ourselves. And that was the most troubling part of it,” said Mikel Perry of Green Bay.
Perry tells FOX 11 there was no communication during the East River flood in March.
“Finally, we called the non-emergency police number, they gave us a number to call, we called that number, he gave us another number to call.”
The Green Bay Fire Chief told residents as a short term solution, residents should just call 911 next time.
Almost two weeks ago, the Brown County Emergency Management Director said the state is looking to standardize the 211 service, which is the number of flood victims were told to call for help.
“Definitely some concerns from residents, I think there was a fair amount of miscommunication in the community,” said Mayor Eric Genrich.
Genrich tells FOX 11 residents also have concerns over infrastructure.
“We do have an emergency operations plan that needs to be revised, so that’s in a process of being revamped. And we got to look at our infrastructure, need to make sure we have a solid plan to address some issues going forward.”
During Monday’s meeting, firefighters listed some lessons learned including needing better accountability of evacuees, needing better enforcement at evacuation areas and having high water vehicle capabilities.
Perry said it’s time for city leaders to take those lessons and put it into action.
“Now whenever it rains, we go little crazy because we’re anxious.”
If you were unable to attend and would like to comment, you can contact Alder Bill Galvin at District4@greenbaywi.gov
