Taking Flight Early Saturday morning, Lambert reopened its airfield to let a few cargo planes land, only because they didn’t need to use the terminals. At about 1:30 a.m., Hamm-Niebruegge’s airfield-main- tenance crewlet herknowthat a part of the perimeter fence hadbeenblown out, and that itwould be repaired by 5a.m.Once that was done, the airfield would be good to go. But for the airport to reopen and begin land-
ing and departing planes again, main power would need to be restored.Onbackup power, you can’t operate jet bridges, and Hamm-Niebruegge was concerned about boarding passengers outside because more storms were forecasted throughout the weekend. She went home at about 4 a.m. on Satur- day to take a shower and a 30-minute nap, and was back at the airport by 6:30 a.m. Recovery efforts were in full gear. Knowing ConcourseCwouldn’t be reopen- ing any time soon, crews began prepping ConcourseD— which had been closed off for several years—to receive flights. At 7:22 p.m. on Saturday, the power came back on. Lambert
“We needed to make sure, first of all, how many people got hurt, what were some of the injuries, is there anybody else that needs assis- tance. The other priority is, how do we get the airport back in shape and operat- ing?” For the Lambert team, that broke down into seeing who was injured, getting the airfield shut down, and beginning cleanup.
there. After walking around to check out “everything that I could see,” she sat down with Hamm-Niebruegge for
a few minutes. “It was nice to have that face-to-face and see her so calm and relaxed,” Ratcliffe said, “and just prepar-
ing for her third press conference.” Lambert had opened at 4:30 that morn-
ing, with both arrivals and departures for the first time since the tornado, so after meeting with Hamm-Niebruegge, Ratcliffe went off to “thank our volunteers who were out there already, making sure that they were greeting the international groups that they had planned to greet.”
Success Story On Easter Sunday, Lambert operated at 70-percent capacity. The next day, it was at 89 percent, and by Tuesday, the airport had resumed 100-percent opera- tions. While it could be up to a year before Concourse
received eight or nine arriving flights that night, with no depar- tures. “It was almost like being at a new airport, where this is the first flight landing,”Hamm-Niebruegge said, “because in our minds it was such a big accomplishment, seeing what we saw when we got here Friday night.” Among the passengers on those first flights were production
teams and other advance peoplecoming to FIRSTRobotics. They were greeted by CVC volunteers welcoming them to St. Louis —even as Ratcliffe made her way back home, flying from Dal- las to Kansas City, where she rented a car and drove to St. Louis. She had worked for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention &Visitors Bureau during Hurricane Katrina, when the city was
C is completely repaired, the upside is that Lambert was in the middle of a $70-million renovation project when the tornado struck, and now can incorporate upgrades and improvements into the damaged areas. Fromalmost any angle, St. Louis’ response to the tornadowas
On_the_Web
To watch a news report (on YouTube) about the tornado that hit Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, visit
http://youtu.be /nMpiRH1B3mQ.
largely evacuated, so she was used to coordinating an emergency response remotely. “But I also knewI had to get back rightaway,” she said, “because there are certain things you need to be on the ground for to see for yourself when you’re responsible.” Ratcliffe gothome late Saturday night and went to the airport onSunday morning, taking a taxi because her car was still parked
68 pcmaconvene October 2011
a success, not least when it came to serving its group business. Ratcliffe attributes that to the “constant communication” that theCVCdelivered to its meeting clients, and, on a broader level, to the “good relationship” between the mayor and the county executive—despite the potentially awkward political reality of the city’s airport sitting on an island of property within the county. “It would be very easy for one or the other to jockey for responsibility on this,” Ratcliffe said. “But they work really well together.” It also didn’t hurt, from a disaster-management perspective, that the CVC runs the America’s Center complex. Ratcliffe said: “It makes itmuch easier in times of crisis to make sure you have everything covered.” For Hamm-Niebruegge, the successful response was the result
of a team of professionals who were “confident in their abili- ties to react to an emergency,” and also of the community spirit of the “volumes of people”whoshowed up to help fix Lambert. “Many of them came out all weekend,” she said. “It’s not like westopped things because it was Easter Sunday.” She added: “It certainly for us put St. Louis on the map in the eyes of the coun- try as being able to handle a disaster of this magnitude.” The tornado did something else as well. “I think this really
instilledconfidenceamong the citizens of our community interms of the leadership at the airport,” Ratcliffe said, “and it reinforced howcritical that airport is to everyday commerce. For us, certainly froma visitorperspective, formeetings andconventions and busi- ness travelers—I think it reinforced to local businesseshowimpor- tant itwas that that facility be able to run and runwell.”
Christopher Durso is executive editor of Convene.
www.pcma.org
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