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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Duluth Communications Office
Mayor Roger J. Reinert
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
For more information, please call 218-730-5309
DATE: 8/30/2013
SUBJECT: City of Duluth Receives Exceptional Performance Award-Adversity from the American Public Works Association (APWA)
BY: Daniel Fanning
SUBJECT: City of Duluth Receives Exceptional Performance Award-Adversity from the American Public Works Association (APWA)
BY: Daniel Fanning
City of Duluth Receives Exceptional Performance Award-Adversity from the American Public Works Association (APWA)
[Duluth, MN] The City of Duluth has received the American Public Works Association (APWA) Exceptional Performance Award – Adversity. The Exceptional Performance Award recognizes individuals, teams or organizations in the areas of adversity, journalism and safety whose outstanding contributions in the course of performance raise the level of public awareness for the profession. The Exceptional Performance Award-Adversity specifically recognizes exceptional performance in the face of adversity in service to the public.
The City of Duluth was chosen based on the 2012 flood response and recovery effort.
The August 2013 edition of the APWA Reporter reads:
“On June 19-20, 2012, Duluth and the surrounding area had a 500-year storm event with rainfall amounts up to 10” in some areas. The area experienced flash flooding and significant flooding of the St. Louis River, with new historical crest of 16.62 feet at Scanlon. The flood caused an estimated $37 million in damage to public infrastructure and $20 million in private structural damage in Duluth alone. This heavy rain was not predicted or expected, and came after the ground was already saturated from other spring rain events the prior weeks.
Having recently attended Advanced Incident Command Training in 2011, City of Duluth staff was able to use what they had recently learned by establishing an Emergency Operations Center. The Center helped in the safe evacuation of residents from flooded areas and no lives were lost during the incident. During the disaster, the City’s utility operations dispatch took approximately 4,000 calls and responded to over 1,087 work orders. They also quickly repaired two major lift stations. Having over 700 sites that were damaged from the flood, including a multitude of streets in need of immediate repair, the City was able to complete twenty emergency contracts for services or repairs within a week’s time.”
City Engineer Cindy Voigt was in Chicago to accept the award on behalf of the City of Duluth and the Department of Public Works & Utilities during the 2013 APWA International Public Works Congress & Exposition.
For more information please contact Cindy Voigt, City Engineer, at (218) 730-5071 or Daniel Fanning, Community Relations Officer, at (218) 730-5301.