Volunteers training for the next Isabel

When Tropical Storm Isabel walloped Shady Side two years ago, residents were on their own.

While National Guard trucks came to pull some people from hard-hit areas like Cedarhurst on the Bay and Snug Harbor, those who weren't evacuated were left to fend for themselves with no power, no water and no communication for days.

"We did not know what to do," said Frank Alderson, who finally moved into his rebuilt house in Cedarhurst six months ago, $50,000 in the hole.

Now he and some two dozen neighbors have just finished the second session of the county's first community-focused, emergency response training course to learn...