indefinitely. Slay said: “There was no doubt.” That made the top priority for Ratcliffe—still in Dallas—clear:Talk to the groups that would be bringing in meetings over the next weekor so. “For us it was not the logistical issue, it was a public-relations issue,” Ratcliffe said. “We divided up our teamand charged each with different tasks—posting things on thewebsite, making outreach to the airport to find out current updates thatwecould get out via Facebook and Twitter to let people know what the status was.” TheCVC’simmediateconcernwas toreachout toFIRSTRobot-
ics and the Biomass Conference, “which we did immediately, to let them know that we were in contact with the airport and Rhonda’s team,andthatwewouldkeepthemupdatedas to the sta- tus of the airport,” Ratcliffe said. “And then also facilitating those international teams [from FIRST Robotics] that were the early arrivals,whodid have to land in other airports—[learning] where the airlines were diverting them, and how we could assist.” Back in St. Louis, city-based responders were joined by emer-
gency personnel from St. Louis County. “Even though the airport isownedand operatedby the city of St. Louis,westill notifiedthe county people,” Slay said, “andthe county people were out there helping as well. This was a regional emergency; this airport is important to the entire region.” Lambert’s suppliers and contractors were also a crucial part of
the effort.With water still flooding into Concourse C, Hamm- Niebruegge said, the airport’s facilities head and airfield-mainte- nance chief “started calling any vendor that [they have] ever workedwith out at the airport that [they]knewcould get out there and assist our team in the cleanup.” Finally, there was the question of keeping the public informed —both those “who were trying to get into St. Louis,” Slay said,
and peoplewho“were at the airport, stranded.” This is where the entire Lambert community pitched in. “A lot of back-room-area employees came out to say, ‘Where can I help?,’” Hamm- Niebruegge said, “and they became the information booth.” Meanwhile, withthemain players assembledin a specially des-
ignated “war room,”Hamm-Niebruegge said, “It became fairly evident…that pretty soon we were going to have to do a press conference so that everybody could understand wherewewere at, and [that] there were no deaths and the injuries were minor.” At 10 p.m., less than two hours after the tornado, Lambert issued a press release announcing that the airport was closed until further notice. Not long after came the first press conference, with Slay, Hamm-Niebruegge, andother leaders taking turns at the podium. As Friday became Saturday, Ratcliffe’s team also broadened
its communications efforts, which had started with FIRSTRobot- ics and Biomass, but also had to include other groups coming to St. Louis within the nextweek to10days.“Remember that this was a holiday weekend,” Ratcliffe said, “so we had to reach out to people via email and other ways to let them know: ‘I am your point person, talk to me.’” TheCVCdid a quick survey of hotels to find out if any of them were damaged, and learned that a few properties near the airport had lost power. “We needed to com- municate that to FIRST,” Ratcliffe said, “because they weren’t just [staying] downtown, they were throughout the region.” To let leisure travelers knowwhat was going on, Ratcliffe’s teamposted amessage prominentlyontheCVC’shomepage, andsent out reg- ular updates via Twitter and Facebook. Word was getting out. The situation was under control, but
the airport was shut down.Andthe question on everyone’s mind was, for how long?