Lessons were learned from '98 storm

By Dan Nienaber
Free Press Staff Writer

Sat, May 17 2008

— He was one of the people in charge of pulling everything together — the rescue efforts, the communication plans, finding ways through the rubble to get help to those in need — but the devastation was so widespread, so unexpected that even Hank Sadler was initially turned away from St. Peter.
Sadler was in charge of the Nicollet County Emergency Management Department when the tornadoes of March 29, 1998, left their deadly paths across south central Minnesota. The electricity was out at his house on Lake Jefferson, but Sadler learned St. Peter had been hit hard when he turned on his radio.
Trees were blocking roads. Hundreds of people were suddenly without homes. Emergency workers trying to help couldn’t communicate because the radio towers on top of the Nicollet County Courthouse were gone. Cell phones were useless because the cellular towers in the area were either damaged or overloaded.
Firefighters from several area departments arrived to help and were put to work covering city grids, going through every house to check for casualties. A temporary antenna was set up so Blue Earth County could take over the dispatch role. An emergency operation center was set up in a newer portion of the courthouse that hadn’t been severely damaged.
“Between the time they started the search and rescue until about 3 a.m., there wasn’t much else we could do,” Sadler said. “We’ve always had plans and exercises, but something of that magnitude is never exercised. Something of that magnitude, where the courthouse goes out along with most of the city, it was beyond our comprehension.”

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