LOWELL — During Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Councilor Wayne Jenness called Lowell “the biggest small town I’ve ever lived in.”
He was describing Lowell’s emergency response and recovery operations to the devastating post-Thanksgiving flood that destroyed the internal systems of a Lowell Housing Authority building on Moody Street in The Acre neighborhood.
The eight-story City View Towers complex is home to almost 200 low-income seniors and people with disabilities. They were evacuated the night of the Nov. 28 water main break, after almost a million gallons of water flooded the neighborhood, including the basement of the towers with 8 feet of water. The building was also home to the LHA’s administrative offices, which have been relocated to the Mercier Center on 21 Salem St.
The afternoon flood damaged several homes on Race Street, whose residents were rescued via fire boats due to the volume of the cold water surrounding their properties.
Several departments and agencies were present during the meeting, including LHA Executive Director Gary Wallace. He updated the members of the chamber on the well-being of the residents and the condition of the building.
“Our residents are comfortable and safe, and we are working as hard as possible to get them back into their units as soon as possible,” Wallace said. “Obviously, the building systems were destroyed. We lost all of our electric panels, fire panels, sprinkler system panels and controls, trash compactor systems, our hot water tanks are gone — everything was lost.”
He said the LHA had updated their website homepage with services and resources for the flood victims, and were in daily contact with the relocated residents.
“We have a dedicated phone line for the flood victims,” Wallace said. “We’ve established an SMS messaging system, and I have staff visiting the hotels daily looking into any issues.”
In spite of the physical damage that resulted in the immediate displacement of the residents — first to the Senior Center on Broadway Street, and later to area hotels — Wallace said they are hopeful to get the residents “back home” within an estimated 30 days.
“The good news today is that (Tuesday) afternoon, we had power up in the building,” Wallace said. “Temporary generators are there. We’ve been able to order portable hot water boilers that will be delivered within a week. Now that the power is on, fire alarm systems replacement began today, and we can (conduct) elevator inspections tomorrow morning. A temporary fire pump controller was purchased, and we’ve entered into a contract for the mobile hot-water heater.”
In addition to first responders such as the Lowell Police and Fire departments, the Red Cross and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the emergency efforts included dozens of local nonprofit agencies like the Lowell Humane Society that provided care for residents’ pets. The Lowell Regional Transit Authority arranged transportation for residents the night of the evacuation, and Aramark, a food service company and vendor with UMass Lowell, provided food from the day of the flood until Dec. 7.
The Lawrence-based nonprofit AgeSpan will provide lunch and dinner for all 116 displaced residents Monday through Friday starting Dec. 8, Yun-Ju Choi, CEO of Coalition for a Better Acre, told the council. The remaining residents are temporarily housed with family and friends.
She said her organization was working with other community stakeholders such as the volunteer clean-up group Lowell Litter Krewe to recruit people to deliver food to the nine different hotels in the Greater Lowell region, including Westford, Tewksbury and North Chelmsford.
Other efforts to assist the recovery of the people impacted by the disaster include the Moody Street Fund established by the Greater Lowell Community Foundation. Choi said other fundraisers are in motion, as well.
“There is going to be a fundraiser at Cobblestones Thursday, Dec. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m.,” Choi said, asking people to mark their calendars until more information can be distributed.
Many of the councilors spoke to praise the initial and ongoing efforts, with Councilor Rita Mercier offering her thanks to the water department, city employees, police, fire and rescue teams, the health department and volunteers.
“Those residents are Lowellians,” Mercier said. The Senior Center will be named for the longtime councilor after her retirement in honor of her service on behalf of seniors. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and people pulled together and did their part. I’m just so proud of everybody.”
The praise and thanks were tempered by the acknowledgement that while the city’s emergency response plan that was executed by Fire Chief Phillip Charron, who is also serving as emergency management director, that an after-action review was an appropriate next step to prepare for the next crisis.
The council unanimously passed Councilors Kimberly Scott and Daniel Rourke’s motion to request City Manager Tom Golden provide a report evaluating the effectiveness of the emergency response plan, and to update any needed improvements.
“There’s always something we can learn from situations like this,” Scott said. “An incredible job was done by so many people, but there were some comments of some things we could do better. I think it’s always good to reflect and go back to take that into account.”
Rourke called the motion a “debrief in order to go over what happened.”
That motion was echoed in Councilor Vesna Nuon’s motion that also unanimously passed, requesting that Golden have the appropriate department update the council on the city’s emergency management plan.
“This after-action review will include partner responses from Red Cross, MEMA and the staff at the Senior Center,” Nuon said. “I think it’s important that we get the report from the Chief Charron.”
The part-time emergency manager position, which is responsible for coordinating disaster response and crisis management activities, as well as preparing emergency plans for the city, was last held by Shah Ahmed. Charron has held the position, in addition to his full-time fire chief responsibilities, since Ahmed’s departure.
Nuon said Golden’s report will be referred to the Public Safety Subcommittee, “where we will look at it as to where we can coordinate the nongovernmental agencies, and how we can prepare for a future crisis.”
The council unanimously referred Golden’s request for an emergency expenditure authorization to the Finance Subcommittee for discussion, after several councilors expressed concerns about the open-ended financial request.
“I understand and appreciate why this has come to us,” Jenness said. “Obviously, this was a completely unanticipated situation with lots of financial impact to the city. However, I feel like there aren’t sufficient guardrails around this. This council has asked a lot of the taxpayers so far this term, and (this) doesn’t have a price tag on it.”
Jenness’s motion was seconded by Councilor Erik Gitschier, who noted that he was not comfortable with a blank check, either. A date for that meeting will be determined by Scott, as the finance chair, and City Clerk Michael Geary.
When that request does pass a council vote, Chief Financial Officer Conor Baldwin said the emergency declaration, which is embedded within the manager’s authorization, enables the city to apply for “grants or relief from MEMA or other emergency agencies, and we’re able to apply those receipts to offset the deficit.”
To learn more about how to access the Moody Street fund, contact the Lowell Housing Authority at 978-364-5311.
To donate to the Greater Lowell Community Foundation’s Moody Street Flood Relief Fund, visit glcfoundation.info/3Fkg0rs.