THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407200107
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 230 lines
JIM TALBOT HAS made a career of crying wolf.
For the better part of a decade, he's been warning residents and officials alike of potential disaster: everything from hurricanes - not if, but when - to hazardous materials accidents - hopefully, never.
``People say I've been crying the sky is falling for years,'' said Talbot, 47, Norfolk's deputy coordinator of Emergency Services. ``Occasionally, you do feel like you're caught in the `cry wolf' syndrome. . . . but it's my job to educate these people that, sometime, the sky will fall.''
And when it does, he wants folks to be ready. Talbot knows the value of preparation - and the cost of calamity.
He's the ultimate ambulance chaser. Almost as quickly as a major disaster strikes somewhere, Talbot is there watching, listening and learning. He trailed hurricanes Hugo and Andrew, he felt the aftershocks of the California earthquake and even spun into town on the heels of the Midwest tornadoes.
``I've been fortunate that I have gotten to go into some of these areas very soon after the event and seen some of the problems,'' Talbot said.
He wants to do all he can to protect Hampton Roads - though he works for Norfolk, he prefers to think regionally - from disaster. But if it comes, he wants government to be able to respond as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
That's why he climbed atop a swiftly growing pile of hurricane debris at a makeshift dump outside Florida City after Hurricane Andrew to quiz workers about the logistics of clearing up wreckage - and why he stopped to talk to storm-shocked residents about what help they were and were not receiving.
He's concerned about the big-picture - like governmental continuance and infrastructure salvage in a post-disaster environment - and with making sure a hungry, homeless and scared woman gets food, shelter and comfort.
Talbot grew up with disaster.
``My family lived close to a major river that flooded every couple of years,'' Talbot said. ``My grandmother's house used to flood a lot. I know what it's like to clean up.''
Talbot and his sister were raised in a small farming community, Philippi, W.Va. The town of about 400 residents is located just south of Morgantown.
``They are very disaster-oriented in West Virginia because of the floods and all the storms they have,'' Talbot said.
One might think the Mountaineer State is an unlikely exit on the hurricane highway, but many storms that have developed in the Gulf of Mexico and come ashore in Florida, Alabama and Louisiana have eventually worked their way to West Virginia.
While no longer packing the punch of high hurricane winds, the cyclone remnants run headlong into the Appalachian Mountains and other weather systems, often spawning huge amounts of rainfall.
``That's where I got my interest in hurricanes because of the flooding from hurricane-induced rains,'' Talbot said.
After a year at Fairmont State College, young Talbot went on to graduate in 1968 from the Computer Systems Institute, a branch of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
He decided early on, however, that he'd be leaving West Virginia.
``There's no work in West Virginia unless you want to be a coal miner,'' said Talbot. So, in a twist of the refrain to ``go west, young man,'' he looked east. He saw Hampton Roads. ``I liked the ocean and I just liked the area.''
He went to work for Norfolk 24 years ago, starting in Social Services. He switched to Emergency Services in 1985. In short order, he helped make disaster planning a city priority.
``Our officials have been extremely supportive over the years,'' said Talbot, who singled out Assistant City Manager George Crawley and Troy Lapetina, the coordinator of Emergency Services who came on board in 1991.
But he also realized early on that disasters don't recognize city lines and that a regional approach was the smarter course. He's found support among fellow disaster planners and that helped lead to organization of the Hampton Roads Emergency Management Committee, which meets monthly.
``I think we've made a lot of headway in regional planning and regional coordination between the cities, counties and military,'' Talbot said. The committee includes all of the Hampton Roads cities as well as jurisdictions on the Peninsula and the Eastern Shore.
Another organization coup came in 1992 when Talbot managed to bring the National Hurricane Conference to Norfolk. The annual gathering of top hurricane and disaster officials is a treasure-trove of information for local emergency officials, and with it in town, hundreds of area emergency planners were able to attend.
Talbot is working to return the conference to Norfolk in 1998.
His approach and his tenacity have won him a host of honors.
At this year's Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, Talbot received the organization's distinguished service award - an honor bestowed by a consortium that includes representatives of the National Hurricane Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service and the Army Corps of Engineers.
``What if?'' It's the question Talbot must always ask. What if a hurricane brings severe flooding, will the city's emergency operations center stay dry? Probably not. If not, where can operations be reestablished?
That's not a trivial question, either. It's one that has consumed hundreds of hours of his and other officials' time as they try to plan ahead.
``We always try to take the worst-case scenario and always hope that we never have to deal with it,'' Talbot said. ``But I find it difficult because a lot of people just don't understand what the worst is. . . and it's also difficult trying to visualize what some of our problems might be.''
While hurricanes ``are probably the biggest threat here,'' Talbot said, ``there are other kinds of threats that are as great if not greater.''
For instance, a witch's brew of all sorts of chemicals and hazardous materials - including nuclear - are stored and shipped through the region. Terrorism, too, cannot be discounted.
``Each year we are getting better prepared,'' Talbot said. ``But you're never going to be prepared for a big event like an Andrew or a Hugo. But we are much better prepared than we used to be.''
That's where visiting disaster scenes pays off. Talbot talks to local officials, visits trouble spots and listens to the people affected. He may not be able to help them, but they help him.
Of all the places he's been, South Florida most bothered Talbot.
In the wreckage of Florida City and Homestead, he saw too much of Hampton Roads.
``A lot of the damage was wind damage rather than water and that type of wind damage could very easily happen in Hampton Roads,'' he said. ``A lot of the homes were similar to the ones that are here in Virginia. It's was very easy to look at Homestead and imagine that you were in some of the neighborhoods in Tidewater. And it's scary when you think about it in those terms.''
Hurricanes remain the great threat to Hampton Roads, Talbot said. And despite all the effort already expended, he's realistic.
``I don't think we'll ever be ready for a major storm,'' Talbot said. The problem is twofold.
First, Hampton Roads has a very transient population. Just about the time people have lived in the area long enough to learn to appreciate the threats, they move on. And other people with no experience living on a fragile coastline arrive.
Second, development is ongoing. ``Look around and you see the changes that take place on a monthly basis and it's very frightening because we're changing so rapidly.''
About two weeks ago, ``I drove down to Sandbridge and spent half a day driving up along the coastline,'' he said. ``There's new developments, new structures, buildings full of glass and high-rises'' all along the Virginia coast. ``And there's the increase in our population and the limited roadway system. . . . It seems to be continually growing.''
Talbot has a ready answer when asked what three things he would do to change Hampton Roads if he could.
Make more evacuation routes; more roadways leading to and from the area.
Establish a regional emergency operations center that could better allocate all of Hampton Roads' resources in a regional emergency.
Implement a progressive and ongoing training program to better prepare citizens.
In 1993, Talbot made 312 presentations, many to small groups and civic leagues. Often, his public programs are offered in his off hours and on weekends.
Recent events have helped him somewhat. The public saw Charleston after Hugo and South Florida after Andrew. ``That made it a little easier for them to understand what the worst could be,'' he said.
Still, fears fade almost as quickly as the images of destruction leave the television tube and the newspaper front page. Now if a storm, maybe just a small one, were to actually hit the region. . .
``I've never wished that,'' Talbot said. ``Maybe because I own property here. But, seriously, I'd never wish that on any area.''
Planning for something that no one wants to have happen can be draining.
``It takes a lot of patience and a lot of willpower and the drive to keep going,'' Talbot said. And it doesn't help when residents dismiss him.
Some mistakenly believe they have been through a hurricane because storms like Emily last year and Gloria in 1985 and Charlie in 1986 have come close without causing major damage. Others realize a major storm has not hit the region since 1933 and believe that means the likelihood of such happening is rare.
``I usually try to stop and talk to them and say they have not seen or witnessed some of the things I've witnessed in other parts of the country,'' Talbot said.
And Talbot said public disaster awareness comes up woefully short in one area: insurance.
``A lot of people think they are insured (for hurricane damage) and do not realize that their homeowners policy may not pay for damage if their property is flooded, either by tidal flooding or rainfall flooding,'' Talbot said.
Despite spending his days thinking up all sorts of destructive scenarios, Talbot says he leaves his nightmares at work. They don't haunt his nights. ``If they did, I'd probably never get any sleep,'' he said.
In his free time, Talbot often spends it in his back yard with his two dogs, Charlie and George, both 15 years old.
``I'm an avid gardener,'' he said. ``I like to grow flowers and piddle in the dirt. I'm also a big flea marketer. I love to go look for scrapbooks on weather-related disasters. And I am a compulsive collector of almost everything. I've been accused of not throwing anything away.''
His biggest collection? Ties.
``I probably have about 1,500,'' he said. ``I had more, but I just went through the collection and got rid of some.''
He seldom wears the same tie twice. But he does have a few favorites. There is no emergency tie, however.
If there were, he might have put it on last year when Hurricane Emily was bearing down on the mid-Atlantic coast. For a while, it seemed Hampton Roads' luck had run out.
Then the storm veered, but not before nipping Buxton. It gave Talbot a near-home sample of what a hurricane could do.
There was plenty of damage, including extensive flooding and a number of homes, businesses and boats that were severely damaged or destroyed. ``But that storm stayed off the coast 12 to 13 miles. They were on the very edge of it. . . if the eye had come inland, they would have seen a lot different damage.''
In fact, ``these people really lucked out.''
He hopes their luck - and Hampton Roads' - doesn't run out any time soon. In the meantime, he'll keep pointing at the sky and reminding people the wolf is real.
His bottom line: ``If I just save one life, then I've made some headway.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
WEATHER WATCHER
[Color] Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
James B. Talbot, Norfolk's deputy coordinator of Emergency Services,
says hurricanes are the biggest threat here. ``Each year we are
getting better prepared'' he says.
Staff photo LAWRENCE JACKSON
Part of Talbot's job is to visit disaster scenes to learn how
Hampton Roads can be better prepared for a calamity. In 1992 he went
to South Florida to view Hurricane Andrew's aftermath. Here Talbot,
left, talks with a landfill site watchman.
Photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Jim Talbot watches telecommunicator Mary L. Cooke at the 911 center
in Norfolk. Talbot became deputy coordinator of Emergency Services
in 1985 and quickly helped make disaster planning a city priority.
Talbot says Hampton Roads needs more evacuation routes, a regional
emergency operations center, and an ongoing training program to
prepare residents.
Jim Talbot, a compulsive collector of almost everything, holds some
of the ties in his collection. "I probably have about 1,500," he
says.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW EMERGENCY SERVICES by CNB