Crisis Communication Project (Part 2)

I have been working on my research for the flooding communication that occurred in Valley City during the flooding. I have found that most people listened to the radio as their main source of getting valuable information from the people i have talked to. They found that radio was something that almost everyone has and is easily accessible almost anywhere you go unlike TV, newspapers, and internet. A lot of them also enjoyed hearing the news from the mayor herself or from the Army Corps of Engineers Rich Schueneman on the cfs levels of Baldhill Dam and what to expect for output levels. They felt the radio really connected them to people in their own environment that knew exactly what they were dealing with and made them feel more comfortable. After analyzing the situation and from what people have told me i am thinking that the radio was the most popular medium used. Due to it being localized, accurate, and updated on what was going on at all times in Valley City.

Crisis Communication Project

The community I am going to look at for the crisis communication project is Valley City. I chose Valley City because I live there and know what and how the communication was being handled for the most part. I was going to choose Fargo, but since I was not there during the flood it would be harder to find and determine what the best methods were. The spokesperson for Valley City in my opinion was the Mayor, Mary Lee Nielson who would inform the city on the radio about what was going on with the dikes, Baldhill Dam output, and any other news related to the sewer problems. Although she was not always the one saying or giving the information, she was the main spokesperson. The mayor was the spokesperson because she is in charge of the town and the people of Valley City know who she is and would most likely listen to her. She is one of the first to receive information on what is going on with the river and what the town needed to do. Twitter, Fargo Forum, News Dakota, and the Times-Record were all channels of communication during the flooding situation in Valley City. Each of these helped keep the public informed as best it could on the situation on hand and as what was to come. I am going to talk to people in the community and get a general consensus about which channel was they mostly used. Then ask which they thought was most effect and was the best method that should be used. The channel I will probably go with will be the radio I think, since that is what I used and many other people I have already talked to also used.