HARDWICK – In emergency management, there is a phrase that comes up often: the first 72 hours. It refers to the period immediately after a major event, when outside help may be delayed, systems are disrupted, and communities must rely largely on what they already have.
For Hardwick, it is not an abstract idea. We saw it clearly during the flooding in July 2023, when road closures, washed-out crossings and regional impacts left the town nearly cut off from outside deliveries and assistance. Fuel, food, medical access and information all became more complicated at the same time.
In those moments, the question is not whether help will eventually arrive. It is how a town functions before it does, and how households manage alongside that effort.
Emergency management training emphasizes readiness for the first 72 hours because that time frame is often the most unstable.
Power may be out.
Roads may be impassable.
Communications can be inconsistent.
State and federal resources are mobilizing, but they are not yet on the ground.
What happens locally matters most during that window.
For Hardwick, that means building systems that can operate under strain.
Some of that work is visible: strengthening emergency shelter planning, expanding volunteer training, gathering emergency supplies and improving how emergency communications are handled when demand spikes.
Those efforts are meant to ensure that when people need a place to go, a way to ask for help, or reliable information, needed systems are already in place.
Other work happens behind the scenes. It includes identifying where supplies can be staged, how requests are logged and routed, and how municipal staff, volunteers and partner organizations coordinate without duplicating effort or creating confusion.
During the first 72 hours, clarity often matters as much as speed.
Hardwick has been working to build redundancy.
When one route is closed, what is the alternative?
When a facility is unavailable, what is the backup?
When staff are stretched thin, who is trained to step in and support essential functions?
These questions come directly from what we experienced in 2023 and 2024.
The first 72 hours are not carried by municipal systems alone. They are shared by households, neighbors and local networks.
When people can meet some of their own basic needs, food, water, medications and heat, even for a short period, it reduces pressure on emergency systems and allows limited resources to reach those who need them most.
That is where individual preparedness fits in. Not as an expectation to “go it alone,” but as part of a larger, shared effort.
Town systems work best when they are supporting people, not compensating for every possible gap at once.
Regional and watershed coordination also shape those first days. Emergencies do not stop at town lines. Flooding upstream affects access downstream. Power restoration, fuel supply and road repairs are coordinated across multiple communities at once.
Hardwick has been working with neighboring towns, regional partners and watershed-based groups to improve communication and coordination when conditions change quickly.
The goal of all of this is not perfection. It is adaptability. The first 72 hours are about using what is available, adjusting as conditions evolve and keeping people safe until stability begins to return.
The same lesson applies at home as well. Small steps that help households stay stable for a few days can make a meaningful difference during that early window.
Hardwick’s experience has made that reality clear. The work underway now is about making sure that when the next disruption comes, the town and the people who live in it are better positioned to get through those first days together.
Kristen Leahy is the zoning and floodplain administrator and the resilience and adaptation coordinator in the Town of Hardwick.
