Posted at: 11/24/2009 2:58 PM

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Cerro Gordo County Prepares for Disaster

(ABC 6 NEWS) – Disasters can happen any time and anywhere, but there are some things you can do to be ready.

Emergency responders, law enforcement, volunteers, and others met in Mason City today for a tabletop exercise to test the disaster preparedness of the Cerro Gordo County emergency operations center.

Participants went through a scenario in which a tornado rolled through Clear Lake and Mason City, destroying a school and a hospital, knocking out electricity and closing roads, and causing multiple injuries and deaths.

And the goal was to formulate a plan for help.

"We want to establish infrastructure and then be able to go in and start actually taking care of people and doing some of those services. So that's one of the biggest things we do here, trying to sort through what is significant and what's not and prioritize," says Steve O'Neil of Cerro Gordo County Emergency Management.

Organizers say the skills learned in exercises like this can be put to use in events like last week's bus roll over on I-90 near Austin.