Well the city of Jamestown is still trying to block water in some areas and pick up sandbags in other areas. It looks like it is a never ending battle. Thankfully the National Guard has been in town for about four weeks.
Other communications have been issued recently about the flood. I have heard most of my information from the radio. The radio the other day was issuing a “NO WAKE” warning out at the reservoir. This is to keep waves at a minimum to relieve pressure on the dam. This is very important because if the dam was to break, over half of the town would be underwater and many towns downstream of us would suffer also.
I have decided after talking to numerous people that our spokesperson was the mayor of Jamestown. Most thought she was right there to tell people most messages about the flooding. This is very important for her to do, because most people saw she could do a good job and she this might help her win re-election.
Another source of information that deserves a lot of recognition is the radio stations in Jamestown. They have continuously kept people informed about many things including changes in the flood fight to what streets not to travel on during the day because of sandbagging efforts. Most people I talked to thought the same way as me about the radio stations and they had heard most of the information about the flood on the radio. Most of the people that I talked to travel to work every day and are in their cars for aver an hour a day, so that might be the reason most people used the radio.
For reviewing the meetings about the flood, both cable companies played them on air throughout the day. Only one person I talked to watched these almost every day and two people watched them occasionally. I would say that the older people that are retired and are at home most of the day were more apt to watch these viewings on television.
Almost everyone I talked to read the newspaper either occasionally or every day and learned information about the flood. Most people though thought it was old news because they had already heard it elsewhere. This would go to show that only one publication a day can leave some people in the dark and other’s not relying on it for a source on information.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Crisis Comm 1
This spring is a great spring to be talking about crisis communication. There are several places that a person could talk about relating to this topic. In a normal semester, crisis communication happens but probably not as close to home for some people. Of course there is the disease outbreaks and the mice in the restaurants, but this spring many of our hometowns flooded and if it wasn’t our hometown everyone that is in the class had their college town flood.
My hometown of Jamestown, North Dakota flooded this spring and it is still flooded in many areas. Some people say it was the first year the “Glory Hole” had water reach it and some people say they have seen it one other time. For me it was the first time. Most years the water is almost 25 to 30 feet lower than the opening in the Glory Hole.
Besides the Glory Hole filling up, many of the residents of Jamestown have had sump pumps in their basements for months. With sump pumps being in high demand and supply being down, the radio was the main source of communication to let people know when stores received a truck of pumps.
Other sources of communication included internets sources, radio, newspapers, and television. Newsdakota.com was the major source from the internet that was available to residents. The major newspaper was The Jamestown Sun. The problem with the newspaper is that it only runs once a day. The television, radio and internet sources can update people immediately unlike the newspaper. Every time a person would turn the radio on, something about the flood or updates were being talked about. I am guessing that most people used either the internet or television to get the most information.
The spokesperson I would have to say was the mayor. She did depend on many other city officials to handle parts of each situation. Most of the time when a person would watch television, she was on their talking about the flood.
My hometown of Jamestown, North Dakota flooded this spring and it is still flooded in many areas. Some people say it was the first year the “Glory Hole” had water reach it and some people say they have seen it one other time. For me it was the first time. Most years the water is almost 25 to 30 feet lower than the opening in the Glory Hole.
Besides the Glory Hole filling up, many of the residents of Jamestown have had sump pumps in their basements for months. With sump pumps being in high demand and supply being down, the radio was the main source of communication to let people know when stores received a truck of pumps.
Other sources of communication included internets sources, radio, newspapers, and television. Newsdakota.com was the major source from the internet that was available to residents. The major newspaper was The Jamestown Sun. The problem with the newspaper is that it only runs once a day. The television, radio and internet sources can update people immediately unlike the newspaper. Every time a person would turn the radio on, something about the flood or updates were being talked about. I am guessing that most people used either the internet or television to get the most information.
The spokesperson I would have to say was the mayor. She did depend on many other city officials to handle parts of each situation. Most of the time when a person would watch television, she was on their talking about the flood.
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