JANESVILLE — Rock County Emergency Management and other local municipalities partnered with statewide and national resource organizations to bring residents affected by the EF-2 tornado some assistance.
This was the second resource event that the county hosted. County emergency management Director Kevin Wernet said the approach of agencies last week was to figure out how to address immediate needs while this week is about people needing help with insurance issues and what they cover.
Wernet said the American Red Cross has been instrumental in helping the county organize the resource center for residents in need.
Wernet also said the latest resource event was to help people who couldn’t come to the first event. He said there were volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army that showed up and have case managers to help organize support for disaster victims.
They also had people there from insurance agencies to help people figure out what they need over the long term.
“We know that a lot of people are going to be working with their insurance companies and just want to make sure that they have the information from the officer and research producer so that when they're getting answers from these insurance companies, they understand that was above board,” he said.
Wernet also said the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is involved to help people avoid fraud. He said when people are at their most vulnerable, they might more easily fall victim to scams by storm chasers, which are businesses that follow disasters and take advantage of people by completing shoddy work, overcharging them or not completing the project at all. Wernet said they want to educate people on that and hopefully avoid that issue.
“It is a complex issue with the damages, and we want to make sure we have trustworthy people available for people to talk to,” he said.
He shared that they don’t have a total cost of damage because they are still gathering data. The county is evaluating which grants and state money the county and municipalities might qualify for.
Rock Town Board Chair Mark Gunn said his home was not affected but that a lot of residents in the town of Rock were affected. He has been heavily involved in partnering with both the city of Janesville and the county for help in getting resources to residents.
“The Fourth of July is celebrating the country and that is hard right now, but I have to say, first and foremost, thank goodness nobody got hurt or killed,” he said.
“I know material things can be replaced, but right now people are suffering and we're trying to help people, and that's why all of these different agencies will come together — emergency management, Rock County Public Works, the sheriff's department, all the other agencies that the town has been working very, very close with.”
Team Rubicon
Wernet said one organization that was new to the event this week was Team Rubicon, a national nonprofit organization that has volunteers from all over the United States. A majority of them are veterans who help with disaster relief. Wernet said that they had people out since Sunday helping with big clean-up jobs.
He said Team Rubicon is a group of well-organized people who want to help and do everything they can to do so.
“They have people who are trained with chainsaws who help cut down damaged branches,” he said. “The Team Rubicon folks were able to identify some of the places that are in need and go to multiple homes within the city. They arrived to assist with a chainsaw operation. It’s a great resource. It takes a little while to get the request in and get the mission orders for them. And they've been here for five days.”
He said the county and the municipalities affected will continue to identify other organizations that can help with additional needs as they come about.
The county's website, co.rock.wi.us , has a red banner at the top of the home page linking to more information on how to get assistance.
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