“I was worried at first because all of my education had been applied in real world practice at that point,” Potter said, recalling her first discussions about the project. “Once I actually got into the project and got going I realized how much my education had truly prepared me for what I was taking on.”
Potter is involved with the Olive Hill Long Term Recovery Plan. The recovery was needed because in May of 2010, and again in July, Olive Hill, Kentucky was hit by devastating floods that swamped downtown businesses and homes with up to 5 feet of water. As the waters rushed in multiple rescues were carried out, including 43 by boat. Almost three hundred residences were damaged or destroyed, and nearly seventy percent of businesses located within the city limits were affected by the flooding. The devastation was on such a large scale that Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear requested federal assistance, and President Obama signed a disaster declaration on May 11 and again on July 23, making assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) available to the beleaguered city.
But how does one go about rebuilding a community that has been so deeply impacted? The floods had left behind more than simply silt and debris; doubts, despair and uncertainty about the future had also been deposited. A critical component for the successful future of the town would revolve around the cooperation of the community to address both immediate and future needs and priorities. They were helped in this initiative by the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Support Function (ESF) #14. The centerpiece of ESF#14 is the Long-Term Community Recovery (LTRC) program, which focuses on a community identifying its own unique long-term needs and priorities, and also in building capacity to address those needs.
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