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County emergency planners review dam exercise, Red Cross calls spike and measles vulnerability
Summary
Emergency management staff described a functional exercise of a Lake Wessota dam failure scenario and preplanning steps; Red Cross reported a 50% year‑over‑year increase in assistance calls in the county, and public health warned of measles vulnerability in the region due to suboptimal vaccination rates.
Emergency management, the American Red Cross and public health officials gave updates on disaster exercises, increasing post-fire assistance calls and regional vulnerability to measles.
Melissa from Dunn County emergency management described participating in a functional exercise with Xcel Energy simulating a Lake Wessota dam failure. Planners said the scenario showed flood impacts could reach Dunn County about three hours after a failure and would cause localized flooding and river erosion; emergency management staff said they are coordinating with the highway department to pre-position barricade locations and evacuation routes.
The American Red Cross reported a marked increase in need: the chapter assisted 22 families (60 individuals) this fiscal year to date, compared with 11 families (29 individuals) in the previous year — roughly a 50% rise in calls for assistance across locations including Boyceville, Colfax, Elk Mound, Knapp, Menomonie, Mondovi and Bridgeland. The Red Cross said incidents included single-family and multifamily residential fires and specifically referenced a May 20 multifamily fire on Third Street.
Public health’s representative, Jeff from the Dunn County Health Department, said Wisconsin had no confirmed measles cases as of June 4 but noted confirmed cases in surrounding states and a Western-region MMR vaccination rate of about 70 percent, which leaves the area vulnerable to outbreaks. Jeff said the county cannot perform measles testing locally and would refer suspect cases to health care providers; he also warned that federal MMR vaccine requests during an outbreak can take several days and regional stock is limited.
Melissa also answered a question about CodeRED emergency notifications after a participant reported receiving a siren but not a text alert; she said she would check the geofencing and subscription settings and follow up.
Why it matters: the dam exercise highlighted evacuation and flood-response needs; the Red Cross call increase signals greater local demand for disaster relief and housing assistance; and public health said vaccination coverage could hamper rapid outbreak response.
No formal actions were taken; the session recorded coordination steps and pledged follow-up on notification settings and resource planning.
