Do You Think The Town Could Have Improved Communications During Irene?
Some residents have criticized town officials for the handling of communication during Irene? What do you think? Could the town have responded differently?
How do you think the town of Portsmouth handled communications during Hurricane Irene?
Some residents have criticized town officials for how they communicated to residents during the storm.
"Hard to get any information from Portsmouth on what was going on. What ever happened to 'reverse 911,'" wrote Doug Smith in Local Voices.
"No one home at the Town Hall and no contact point for information about what was going on in town."
What do you think? What could town officials have done differently to communicate before, during or after the storm?
Tell us in the comment section below!
Tracey H
10:48 am on Sunday, September 4, 2011
Last Friday evening i read on the Patch that Portsmouth ordered an evacuation of my neighborhood. For the next several hours i searched everywhere for confirmation. The town site, all the local media outlets, and neighbors. I couldn't find anything so i didn't make my plans to leave. Saturday morning i searched again and still nothing. Some time in the afternoon it went on the town's site we were to evacuate and i heard from a friend that the cops went down her street announcing something over the speaker. They never went down my street. I did end up leaving but the majority of the people in my neighborhood do not. I feel partially because of the way the town did/didn't get the word out there that they did not feel it was a significant threat. I think the minute town officials knew they were evacuating they should have notified the local media. I also think they should have printed out leaflets with evacuation information like other towns did. Lastly I know we don't have a large police force but we could have used a heightened police presence so people could have felt comfortable leaving their homes unattended.
Gardiner
8:03 am on Monday, September 5, 2011
I would like to know why the Town needed to have stand-by power installed at the town hall only to leave it vacant, with the generator running. This is typical of how this town squanders money by purchasing a generator and then leave it running to consume fuel with nobody there. The sodium lights really looked good when one drove by.
Shirley C. Lally
12:09 pm on Monday, September 5, 2011
I got calls from Middletown because I used to live there. Zip from Portsmouth.
Priscilla Smyth Thayer
1:04 pm on Monday, September 5, 2011
I was in Vermont and received a message from a friend on Facebook about Island Park's evacuation. The only place I found the info was on The Patch. We wound up staying in our home in IP as Irene shifted west. Why didn't the town hook up with the school department and the Alert Now/List Serve? I received at least 4 emails from the new superintendent/school department and a phone call about school and services available. Thank you Lynn Krizic!!!
Just Another Taxpayer
11:20 am on Thursday, September 8, 2011
My family never received any phone calls from the school department. My child has been attending school for the past 8 years and we have received telephone calls in the past regarding snow days etc. I am wondering if there were any other parents who did not receive a call from the school department?
Richard Kocon
1:19 pm on Thursday, September 8, 2011
I find the same problem as Tracey. I was supposed to evacuate but found out the day after the storm from a neighbor's daughter who visited to check on waterfront property. TV indicated specific neighborhoods, but not my street or area.