Stormy weather for Evanston – and a bleak future for climate protection

“Dangerous heat and humidity will build across the region, with possible heat indexes of 110 by afternoon,” the city of Evanston warned Monday morning. Cooling centers were opened, but by late afternoon a severe storm was approaching, the second in as many days. In the evening, as a broad line of thunderstorms moved quickly eastward from Iowa, the city’s sirens sounded and issued a tornado warning.

When the storms passed and temperatures began to cool the next day, the city took stock. Fortunately, this time there were few power outages and minimal tree damage. But thanks to a coordinated multi-agency effort, the city was prepared.

At the heart of the preparations is Kim Kull, the fire department’s emergency management/logistics division chief. Kull just completed her 24th year with the City of Evanston, has an advanced degree in disaster management and is “the expert on all things emergency preparedness,” said Cara Pratt, the city’s sustainability and resilience manager. Pratt is coordinating the implementation of the Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP) – which addresses both mitigation (reducing climate-warming emissions) and resilience (preparing for the impacts of change) – and works closely with Kull.

As extreme heat And Storms driven by the emission of greenhouse gases that warm the planet, are increasing in frequency, nationally and here in IllinoisEvanston’s emergency management office plays a central role. As director, Kull works in coordination with other city agencies to monitor risks and hazards. “My office is involved with public works, 311, 911, and all agencies involved in the response,” she says. That could include the health department. “We’re all in the loop. We collect information and share it together. Depending on the scale of the emergency, the response can be citywide.”

If a storm is brewing, for example, the building department can have crews on standby to help clean up the storm damage overnight. On hot days, the fire department makes sure the crews drink plenty of fluids and take more breaks, says Kull. In addition, “they have more opportunity to rest during the cleanup, so the crews are available for the next call, because the work is more difficult in extreme heat.”

While emergency responders are most visible during events like storms, much of the work of emergency management is proactive. “Part of my job is to coordinate with other agencies to get an overview of the risks and hazards facing the city. Then we work together to preemptively mitigate some of those risks,” Kull explains. She weighs climate-related risks that the city needs to consider, such as the increase in heat events and storms like the ones we experienced this week, drought, ecosystem impacts, air quality and even disease.

National Weather Service: “a huge partner‘

The National Weather Service (NWS) is indispensable in much of this work. “We rely heavily on the National Weather Service,” Kull says. “They have a number of technologies that we don’t have. And there are a number of climatologists and weather experts that give us the direction we need.”

The city participates in the NWS Ready for the storm program that helps communities prepare and plan for weather-related emergencies. NWS also uses models and technology to identify potential threats and Weather emergency (WE) alerts. “It happens almost instantly,” says Kull. “As soon as this threat potentially affects our community, the automatic alerts are issued.”