The Washington County Emergency Management Agency held a meeting for all emergency agencies in all the towns, townships and county to go over what to do in the event of a tornado hitting somewhere in the county. WC EMA Director Rick Greten and Jamie Jones, the Environmental Director with WC Health Department put the exercise together, but the emergency was all done while sitting around tables and through discussion. The scenario was that at about 5:30 PM on December 1st, a tornado entered the county from Saint Clair County by Darmstadt Road, causing damage in Saint Libory, but touching down in Addieville and ultimately leveling part of the town and 25 homes. Throughout the exercise, people were found dead or injured with 10 fatalities and dozens with serious injuries by the end of the night. Power was out and several routes into Addieville were inaccessible. Discussion began on who responded first and what do they do, how do they assess the situation, who do they contact and who do they ask for help? At the scene of the disaster, a command center needs to be set up and a chain of command established with someone in charge that has experience or training to do so. Where are people sent, including the deceased, those seriously injured and those with minor injuries? The Washington County Hospital is not going to be able to handle dozens of the injured at one time. Also, there is no power, it’s night and getting colder as the hours pass, so the residents need a shelter. The Community Club was not hit in this exercise, but had no power, so it was used, but resources were going to be needed from agencies throughout the county to sustain rescue efforts and provide safety and shelter. This might include generators, food, water, lighting, rescue equipment, tractors, etc. Other utilities also might not be on. One item brought up is about how helpful it is to know who lives in each home, if there are special needs for them or if the home is vacant. This is very helpful in a search and rescue situation, such as this tornado exercise. Eventually, the volunteers will be coming to help and someone will need to coordinate and manage them. Even though very little to no money came from the government to Washington County for the New Minden disaster, documentation is important and it is easier to do it at times during the event, as opposed to trying to remember it all afterwards. One idea that was brought up is using social media to keep residents and concerned citizens up-to-date, but also to warn them of certain areas of a disaster. It was suggested that the County have a Facebook page for emergencies, which is something the Clinton County EMA has. It was a very informative roundtable discussion on how everyone would be involved in this tornado scenario and help in some way.