Gadsden City declares maximum readiness as officials prepare shelters, emergency operations center

Gadsden City officials told a midday press briefing that the city is treating the incoming storm as an immediate, high-risk event and has activated emergency staffing, shelters and mutual-aid contacts after the governor declared a state of emergency.

Mayor (unnamed) said city leaders “consider this as a defcon 1 for the city of Gadsden” and described a “military approach” to preparing departments and volunteers for a catastrophic Category 5 storm. He said the city held a coordination meeting of 40 leaders across departments and had implemented tactical changes to prepare residents and response teams.

Derek Mummer, director of Gadsden–Etowah County Emergency Management Agency, said the EMA will staff the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) if the county goes under a tornado watch and will be fully staffed beginning tomorrow. “We encourage the public to visit our social media page, and get our up to date information from there. You can also visit ShelterEtowah.com. That'll have a list of all of our shelters,” Mummer said, adding that shelter managers will be instructed to open if a tornado watch is issued.

Police Chief Lamar Jagers said the police department will add extra staff and have personnel on flexible shifts depending on how conditions evolve. “We might be coming in early. We might be staying late,” Jagers said, and he urged residents to call 911 for emergencies and the nonemergency numbers posted on the Gadsden Police Department Facebook page for other issues.

Fire Chief Vance Brown said the department will maintain its usual 35-line personnel and has called in an eight-person special operations team trained in rope, confined-space and structural-collapse response. He said an additional 10 personnel will be on call to supplement shifts if needed and reiterated that life‑threatening calls will be prioritized.

City officials described several readiness steps: employees were asked to take city vehicles home with fuel; public works staff were called to be on standby at the public works facility; freezer trucks were secured for residents’ perishable goods if power outages prevent timely utility restoration; and the city is coordinating directly with Alabama Power, which officials said is staging more than 4,000 extra personnel statewide, including some in the region.

Officials said the city has two tornado shelters and a third shelter space in the Gadsden Public Library basement with capacity for up to about 150 people and that Parks and Recreation and community centers — including the Noccalula Kiwanis Pavilion — will be used as post‑storm shelters if needed.

The mayor thanked neighboring municipalities and mayors for mutual‑aid arrangements and said the state emergency declaration allows for reimbursement of response costs. He urged residents to prepare, shelter in place if instructed and to avoid tying up emergency lines for nonemergencies.

Questions from reporters addressed how first responders will be kept safe during multiple storm rounds and how the city’s geography — split by the Coosa River and with higher elevations such as Noccalula — affects response staging; officials said they have precincts and staffing plans to cover both sides of the river and will stage resources in higher‑impact areas.

Officials closed the briefing by saying they hope the storm does not hit but that Gadsden City and Etowah County agencies are ready to respond and to assist neighboring counties if needed.