MWD Workers Sent to Aid Flood Victims

Like the other 3,800 Red Cross volunteers who poured into Northern California after the recent deluge, Thousand Oaks resident Nick Catrantzos wanted to help flood victims piece their lives back together.

But as the manager of security and emergency services for the Metropolitan Water District, he also had another purpose in mind--learning how to handle disaster.

The district, which supplies water to communities throughout Southern California, flew six employees to Sacramento last week to help the Red Cross assess flood damage and to work with families dispossessed by rising water.

Catrantzos said the occasion gave him and other water district employees a rare opportunity to handle a large-scale emergency in the field.

“We’re getting training and bringing back experience that you just can’t simulate in exercises,” he said.

The water district signed an agreement with the Red Cross in September to train up to 350 district employees to work at disaster sites throughout the country.

Elizabeth Quirk, public affairs officer with the humanitarian organization, said the agency has similar agreements with many companies and agencies.

Catrantzos, who returned to Southern California on Thursday, concentrated on damage assessment. He and other volunteers surveyed homes in communities struck by the floods, evaluating how hard each had been hit.

The trip also gave Catrantzos an opportunity to see how both the organization and its volunteers responded to the emergency.

He watched how long people--many of them working 12-hour shifts--could work before they needed to be relieved. He assessed how well the other MWD volunteers responded to the stress. And he studied how the Red Cross seems capable of putting anyone to use.

The operation and its people, he said, impressed him.

“They do find a use for every life form, some of whom their own families and companies can’t find a use for,” he said.