Lincoln and Lancaster County work together to focus flooding relief efforts

While it might look like a ghost town now for the past week the Emergency Operations Center has been bustling nearly 24/7.

The Emergency Operations Center, or the EOC, for Lincoln–Lancaster County Emergency Management.

The heads of every department in the City and County come here to formulate a plan when an emergency strikes.

“To be able to get all the stakeholders in the community on one common operating platform it’s imperative, especially when you have a catastrophic event going on not only within the state but within our community,” Brad Thavenet, the planning division chief for flooding operations, said.

Having only opened the new building near 14th and Old Cheney last fall, the flooding is the first big event in which the EOC has been utilized.

This is where people from transportation and utilities, the water system, police, fire, and other departments coordinate their efforts.

While each department has their own goals, they’re working together toward the common goal of relief and rebuilding.

Right now the focus is on rebuilding Lincoln’s wells that were damaged by flood waters from the Platte River.

“The operations section is working on getting power restored to the fields so they have numerous engineering firms and power firms out to make sure we have power to the fields and an accessible road.”

There’s no timeline of when the wells will be repaired and the water restrictions lifted.

Each department has been working together to share the message on water restrictions.

It’s that kind of unity that makes coordinating relief efforts so much easier.

“There’s just the camaraderie going on that you just cannot put into words. Someone coined it Nebraska strong, you can definitely see it in this group here as we work toward ultimately solving the problem.”