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You

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The full episode of Inside Wisconsin

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Politics is available wherever you

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get your podcasts.

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A devastating EF3 tornado

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with winds up to 140

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miles per hour hit the

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Appleton area on Monday.

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It leaves people without power under

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boil water advisories, curfews,

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and pleas to shelter in place to

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keep roads clear.

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People are in shelters as donations

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pour in, all as communities

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try to pick up the of their

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homes and lives.

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This week, Governor Tony Evers

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declared a state of emergency and

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activated the National Guard to

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ensure every available resource

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is deployed in response.

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The city of Menasha took a direct

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hit from the tornado as

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it moved south from Appleton.

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Menasha Mayor Austin Hammond joins

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us now. Mayor, thanks very much for

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being here.

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Thank you for having me.

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How are you and your city doing

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right now?

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We're doing all right.

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There is a huge influx

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of helping hands over the

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last couple of days.

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We have a volunteer

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operation happening at

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the former UWO Fox Cities campus,

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and Volunteer Fox Cities is running

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that.

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And yesterday alone, we had 1,200

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volunteers, which has been

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incredible.

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And we've been blessed

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by neighboring municipalities coming

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to help us. Or utility company

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in this spot.

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Damage from the storm is remarkably

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significant.

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People have lost their homes, people

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have lost lost

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their businesses, public

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infrastructure, power out.

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Our water plants were hit and

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we're reliant on the City of Nena to

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help us do that and as was mentioned

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earlier some of the areas of water

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service are under a water boil

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advisory right now so.

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It's been a difficult and

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challenging and trying week, but the

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folks here at the City of Kinashe

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are strong and resilient and

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are making the most

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of it. So even in the most darkest

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and difficult moments, people are

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choosing to look out for each other

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and find ways to lift each other

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up.

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And it's also been incredible to see

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the public sector,

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private sector, faith

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communities all come together to

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uplift our community.

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So.

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It's really been truly

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incredible to see people come

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together in this really difficult

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moment, but

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it's incredibly

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sad how much damage has

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happened to do to the storm.

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Yeah, I wanted to ask, the

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pictures tell the story,

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right, but what was the scale of

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this? How many homes

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and businesses and how much

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infrastructure was flattened

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or damaged?

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We're still assessing that actively

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as time goes on.

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So we have crews out assessing

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homes right now and

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taking them on if they're

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habitable or not.

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So that's something that is ongoing

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and actively being looked at.

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So despite this enormous property

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damage, how surprising is

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it that no one was killed?

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I mean, it's a miracle.

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It's truly remarkable.

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I think some of it has to do with

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time of day in the middle of the

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week.

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Thankfully, many folks were

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at work.

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And then I think notifications that

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were given to give people ample

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notice of the storm to get into safe

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locations was another part of it.

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But it really is a miracle

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that nobody,

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to this point in time, there's no

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fatalities because of

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the storms.

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What is the state at

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week's end here of restoration of

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services and cleanup?

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Yeah, so our

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in the city of Manassia, we have the

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national utilities, a local utility

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company, uh, and

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they have been restoring a great

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amount of power through our

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community.

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So, uh.

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Near our downtown and

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the further side of the city, and

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it's going to take quite a while yet

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for restoration of power

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to be done collectively

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throughout the entire city, but

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they're making tremendous progress.

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So we're doing very quick.

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So that has been.

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Very, very encouraging to see, uh,

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and then right now we're in

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operation of clearing debris

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throughout the city of Menasha.

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So we've contracted, uh

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contractors to come in and help our

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departments, uh

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remove some of that debris.

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And earlier this week, there's

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a state of emergency emergency,

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excuse me, declared by, uh

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Governor Tony Evers and what that

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we've activated the National Guard.

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We requested to activate the

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National Guard and was granted by

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the governor and National

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Guard are here today and

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they're going to start with traffic

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control and things like that to help

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us go in more

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specific sections of our

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community so those contractors can

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do that important work to

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remove the debris.

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So we're actively getting as

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much of the debris out as

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possible. Utilities are working

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tirelessly to get power

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back on.

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And in addition to our first

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responders, law enforcement have

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just been doing an incredible job

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making sure people are taken

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care of and provided for.

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And there's just been a ton of

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volunteer efforts to make

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sure that we're providing people

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with a pooling shelter as places to

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recharge their phone, have a meal,

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have water, right?

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It's just all hands on deck and

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really collectively making sure that

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our community is provided for her.

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I know you're doing all of that work

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and it's early, but do you have any

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ballpark damage estimates yet?

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I don't at this time, just because

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the assessment is ongoing,

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there is a great and significant

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amount of damage with the assessment

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process and this is continuing

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to progress.

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How long do you think it will take

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Menasha to recover?

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I think we have a long road

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ahead of us.

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I think there'll be much, much work

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to do for days, weeks,

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and possibly months in some

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aspects of it.

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I mean, the damage of the storm is

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devastating,

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and I can't stress enough just how

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much loss there has been.

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And my heart goes out to those

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residents, and I want to know that I

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see them and I hear them.

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And we're in this together.

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I need to take it a day at a time.

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But I think the important thing.

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To know in circumstances like this

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is we needed to one

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step at a time in order to activate

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the next step.

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So right now making sure people are

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safe, making sure people have those

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immediate basic needs,

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and then making sure we have

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roads clear

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so contractors and our crews

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and all the

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municipalities that are coming in to

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help us can do that important work

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to clear out our roads,

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build back up our utility.

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And then the next phases will come

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in where people can get their

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garbage out and other things like

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that So it's it's gonna be

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a long road ahead of us.

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I anticipate many weeks yet

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What does your community need most

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now?

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I think the community right now

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needs most, I

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would probably say just

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to be able to have the opportunity

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to have that work done

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that is so needed of removing the

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debris.

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And I would just put a mask out that

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people are not coming

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to Gawk while people are

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in some of the darkest moments of

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their life trying to clean up their

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home, clean up the debris, when

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people are coming and congesting our

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streets it's making it difficult for

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the work that needs to be done to be

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effectively. So, if you're coming

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to Menashe, the...

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Be a helping hand.

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Please go visit volunteer

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Fox Cities website and that has

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all the volunteer opportunities

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there based out of the old

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UWO Fox Cities campus

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off of Midway.

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We would love to have you come

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volunteer.

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We need collaboration

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and partnership and I would ask for

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people to watch the news

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and look at pictures that way of

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what has been happening in our

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community.

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Uh, but right now I would just say

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we really need the ability to

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let the work be done that needs to

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be done, whether it's our volunteers

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doing incredible work, the national

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guard, our

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emergency management, first

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responders, department of

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public works, utility company,

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the contract at work, the

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sooner all of that can happen quick

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and efficiently and without

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interruption, the quicker we can

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kind of expedite this process.

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Mayor Austin Hammond, thanks very

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much and really good luck to you.

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Thank you very much for having me.

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Have you gotten much sleep?

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Uh, not a lot.

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No, I have not gotten much sleep,

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but I

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just,

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it's really difficult to

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know the pain that so many people

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are going through.

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Uh, and you

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know, it.

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Really hard to just wrap your head

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around how much our community

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has gone through this week, but it's

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really encouraging at the same time,

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just the love that people have for

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each other. It's a weird moment,

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I guess, is what I'm trying to

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articulate. There's so much

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love and there's so goodwill

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and people looking out for each

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other, but yet there's still so much

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pain and there is so much loss.

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It's just kind of a weird space at

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the end.

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Yeah, yeah for sure.

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Well, thank you again for taking

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time out and talking with

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us

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Yes, thank you for having me.

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I appreciate it.

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Okay, all right, again, good luck.

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Thank you.

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Hi.